DOWNLOAD: Riverboat Gamblers
By Tankboy in Arts & Entertainment on May 17, 2012 7:00PM
We've been following Denton's Riverboat Gamblers for quite a while now, watching the once spazz-punks gradually refine their sound. By this point they've sanded the sharpest corners off their songs, so they no longer draw blood. But what they've given up in danger they've made up for in melody. One could argue whether that's a good or bad thing, but to us it's wholly dependent on our mood at a particular second. Sometimes you want to throw yourself through a wall of plate glass, spewing blood as shards explode all around you. Other times you want something that sounds good bouncing off the tiles of your shower while feeling slightly like a rebel.
On The Wolf You Feed, out May 22, Riverboat Gamblers have given up the explicit anarchy of their earlier songs and replaced it with a dread and a menace that keeps their eminently hummable melodies grounded in approachable human frailty. "Comedians" is an excellent example of the band's relatively newfound restraint tempered with a glint of the abandon that coursed through their earlier catalog.
Considering the mood hanging over Chicago as we head into NATO weekend, this song of restrained menace—danger held just safely in check—seems apropos.