Day 38: Crosses - Crosses

Artist:   Crosses
Album:  Crosses
Source:  http://pitchfork.com/advance/342-stream/

Pre-listening Notes:  I am not going to go out of my way to find the symbols that this band uses to actually stylize their name, but this is the side project of Chino from the Deftones and Shaun Lopez, formerly of Far, who is also a producer.  It's electronic based rock.  I am a pretty big fan of the Deftones and sort of enjoyed the first EP this band put out.  I lost track of them along the way, because I haven't heard the second EP they put out the following year.  Here goes.

Initial Reaction:  They have a "thing" where all the t's in their song titles are replaced by the cross symbol.  The music is very much electronic based, but still has almost a heavier feel to it.  The drums have a fake feel to them, so I'm assuming a drum machine.  Chino's vocals are pretty standard stuff for him, not a bad opener.  Not nearly as heavy as the Deftones, but not bad.
 
Random Thoughts:  This second song, Telepathy, is sort of dancey.  Then the song Bitches Brew slows it down a little.  I like the way Chino sings on these songs, I am not a huge electronic music fan, but it sort of works.  That ended with some Chino yelling.  The Holy Ghost has a very White Pony or Self Titled Deftones feel to it, and seems to have a real drummer going on.  This is the best song, so far.  The real mellow ones, like Trophy, seem to fall a little flat.  Somewhere after the first couple songs, I found myself drumming along to a lot of these songs on my computer desk.  The tempo changes from song to song keep them fresh, as a lot of this could start to sound real similar otherwise.  This is getting a little long, however.  I think I started losing focus about 9 songs in, and I think there might be 15 or 16 total. 

Final Reaction:  I like it.  It's never going to replace my desire to listen to the Deftones, but it may just be better than Team Sleep.  I lost sight of the fact that it was electronic based somewhere in the middle of the album and just kind of enjoyed it for what it was.  Chino's voice is still great and it's different enough that I like that I can separate them from their member's other bands.  Overall, I'll probably give this another listen down the road.   

Final Grade:  7.0/10