Scammers - Lasers In the Jungle

Scammers is Phil Diamond from Kansas City. Everything about this cassette titled Lasers In the Jungle is incredibly slick. There is a picture in my head of the entrance to an organ store that used to be in all the shopping malls. Phil Diamond is there on the poshest Hammond in the store, causing the mall crowd to gather in wonderment. Maybe this description is a little cheesy, it was just something that gathered in my head.

Lasers in the Jungle is a well rounded composition, eight tracks over forty minutes. Resting in a world of incredibly well written glazed pop songs. Messages in the lyrics about life and observations of the people within. So much information is being conveyed, Lasers In the Jungle requires a few listens in order to process everything Phil Diamond is channeling. The music is catchy, having a simple set up quality for the vocals. And the vocals.... deeply sung, both in tone and meaning. Delivered in a singer songwriter style that has veered way left, into a venue where time seems to go both back and forward. Sometimes i hear an eighties new wave vibe, then lost, because Scammers has progressed beyond my knowledge. There where a few bands that came to mind Phil Diamond reminded me of; Treat Her Right, in an odd way Cakekitchen, and a particular album i have been fond of Murder Ballads.Yeah, don't through comparisons out there much, but Scammers' sound is astonishingly unique. What it might reminded me of is one tool to help bring it into a spectrum i can understand and appreciate.

This is out on Personal Archives, the label from Iowa, somewhere near the banks of the Mississippi. In a run of one hundred crystal clear cassettes. If you have not purchased from Personal Archives before, Scammers is a good place to start. Very representative of how skilled and thoughtful all of the releases on the label are.





Links
Personal Archives site -  bandcamp