Terrible Techno

Semi Precious Weapons’ new album Aviation works to try and please everyone, but all the record accomplishes is being really annoying. The album borrows from techno, pop and pop-punk. The combination of these three genres on an entire album results in something getting lost. The songs are structured as lyrical melodies over simplified, musical riffs with heavy doses of techno beats, which, on most of the songs featured, are unbearable for the ears. Aviation is comprised of 12 songs and nearly all of them, without the context of a dance club, will quite possibly make your ears want to bleed.

There are a few tracks that are more tolerable than the rest. These few songs are more mainstream pop than anything else, and would actually fit high up on the Top 40. Because they’re so kitschy and formulated, they are just mind numbing — “Free Booze” and “Vegas” are especially prominent examples. One aspect that remains constant throughout Aviation is the fact that Semi-Precious Weapons are clearly a band of few words. Each track is composed of highly repetitive lyrics that don’t engage the listener.

If you don’t pick up this record, you’re not missing out. In fact, you’re probably saving yourself. Techno enthusiasts may not even be interested in what Semi Precious Weapons have to offer. If you just want to see how they try to experiment with various aspects of electronic music, then maybe you will enjoy this album. You’ll quickly notice, however, that their electronic aspects don’t seem to have much of a purpose, but rather they just work as noise for the sake of noise.