"Guided by Speciner" by Styrofoam Junkies

By Kris Walsh

Rarely do I feel as bewildered as I had been while experiencing the Styrofoam Junkies for the first time. Their newly released untitled EP brings forth a strange, surreal set of five new songs that draw from a variety of influences, to create a surprisingly fluid sound. But, the band does have numerous imperfections, and has more than a handful of things it can improve upon.

The opening track, “Come Alive,” succeeds in displaying a full repertoire of skills in a single fluid piece, combining elements of hard rock, hip hop, funk, dance rock and something else I just can’t pinpoint. There’s a great deal of dynamic in this song, showing that Styrofoam Junkies understand how to create a mood – which is vital when providing a crowd with something they’re unused to. Unfortunately, the momentum begins to wane as early as here.

While the first song caught me entirely off-guard, the second, third and fourth tracks failed to surprise me as much and were somewhat disappointing. While not total flops, these later pieces are fairly lackluster, and seem to have been made with significantly less enthusiasm than the opening track. The band also seems to recycle their turn-table gimmick throughout all five tracks, making it a predictable layer, and rather annoying.

The band still continues to put forth well-rehearsed music as the tracks continue, but the lack of events within these successive songs just makes me keep wishing some more would come. Voice racks have been used to help layer the pieces, certainly giving them more depth – but it seems cheaply done. The turn-tables alone were already being abused; but now they just warp the one line that repeats itself over the gap in the song specially laid out for them. Really, it looks like the band had needed to meet a quota with each effect before the song was over, and used those makeshift fill-ins as an excuse not to make the rest of the song go anywhere. This is a mistake, and it only becomes exponentially worse when your songs average out to over four minutes each.

Fortunately, the band manages to end the EP on what I consider a high note, with “Meant to Fade.” The successes of this song mirror some of those of the first, primarily in considering the good dynamic associated with it. While, of course, it has a moment for turn-tables to rear their ugly head once more, this song still feels like a work made through effort rather than formulae. But despite that, it fails to replicate the feelings I had with the opening track.

I should note that the band members possess fair technical skill with their respective instruments. The guitar and bass work is rather good, and the vocals are quite professional. My only gripe was the less-than-stellar drums – as while they did their job, I was occasionally cringing at what was simply too bland (when there was so much potential), and once when it seemed to miss a beat entirely in the fifth track.

In conclusion, while I was initially impressed with the band’s ingenuity, Styrofoam Junkies lose their appeal fast. They do implement a variety of sounds, and are skilled at creating sounds the masses can appreciate, but their turn-table and voice-track fallback points make everything seem too contrived and less like a real piece of music. Given more time, and a better understanding of moderation, I think Styrofoam Junkies could do significantly better – they certainly show aptitude. One can only hope they can identify their imperfections and fix them promptly, as a band with this potential has a shot at going somewhere…if they want it enough.

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