Friends of AMS: Death Before Decaf

The Indie Review

By Allie Berg
March 13, 2008

Artist: Friends of the AMS
Album: Death Before Decaf
Label: Unsigned
Rating:

With the flourishing music scene coming out of Saint Paul, Minnesota, it is no surprise that a pretty cool band formed there. Five dudes and one chick had an idea to take their love of music and form what became Friends of the AMS. In 2007, they released their first EP, “Death Before Decaf” and applied various music styles to create their own unique sound.

I can’t describe it any other way, and hopefully this makes some sense, but if a hardcore, spanish fairy tale was ever created, the soundtrack would be this EP. Friends of the AMS have been influenced by many different genres of music. Spanish/salsa influence can been heard in the track The Life and Death of an Alarmist. While music like this may not be popular in the mainstream, they don’t seem to care because that is their sound and they are sticking with it.

Friends of the AMS use the perfect combination of different music genres, screaming, harmonies, bells, chimes and other effects. At times I would have liked their to be a little more music and little less effects, but overall it was a nice balance. Also, having a female voice thrown into the mix really added something special. I found her voice to be soothing, but the music and screaming in the background kept the sound edgy. Another thing to be noted was the excellent harmonies. Compared to other bands their age, they seemed to have it together and harmonized beautifully. Death Before Decaf showcases their natural talent and their desire to experiment with effects and different sounds. Hopefully they will not be influenced too much by music popular today, and won’t feel the pressure to conform. It would really be a shame if they changed their original sound going on just to “fit in”.

Stand Out Tracks:

“Over The Rainbow, Jenny”

“The Whale and the Witch”

“Color Me Insensitive, Color Me Confused, Color Me
Anything Just Color Me”