Review: The Down and Outs - "Cacophony"
Providence, Rhode Island’s the Down and Outs are bringing the mid-'90s skatepunk style back on their debut LP, Cacophony. Though this disc isn't really a cacophony by any stretch of the imagination, the '90s EpiFat influences are unmistakable. Rolling rhythms, lightning palm mutes, and gang "whoa"s populate this album, which at 40 minutes runs on the longer side of such a style, though several of said minutes are dead air leading to the four-minute “secret” track, a cover of Paula Abdul’s 1988 hit single “Straight Up.” Excessiveness seems to be the only real problem on an otherwise nice debut effort by the Down and Outs. The opening track “Villain” clocks in at 3:46, taking a minute-and-a-half to build before it finally gets going. On “Numbers” it takes nearly a minute, while on both “Bridges and Breakdowns” and “Hanging Up” there’s 45 seconds of chords progressions and drums before any vocals kick in. It’s not a huge complaint, but it’s kind of boring to listen t...