Pain Agency magic

I felt the urge to say more about 'Sucioperro' and specifically 'Pain Agency' – their new and second album. Their first album – 'Random Acts of Intimacy' was outstanding. 'Pain Agency' takes the joy I felt through 'Random Acts of Intimacy', doubles it, then trebles it and just keeps going. Each listen moves me further and further along a scale of joyousness. I have now reached the dizzying heights of joy of such intensity, I sometimes have to stop playing the record just to come back to earth for a while. Is it possible to supplant lyrics and music into your mind – achieving catchy and eloquence simultaneously, yes it is. It’s all on 'Pain Agency', for your eager ears to enjoy. Do you think I exaggerate? Buy the album and you’ll know the answer. Often catchy and eloquence sit in opposition to each other in music, too much of one, takes you away from the other. That opinion on music is so subjective must make it very difficult for writers and composers to achieve the right balance. Yet 'Sucioperro' achieve this balance perfectly.

Onto a detailed discussion of 'Pain Agency', moving through track by track we begin at ‘Liquids’, and what a beginning, a song of musical intensity, at times gentle and at others hard-edged. In many ways it washes over you like a liquid. You feel the music and don’t simply hear it. Then arriving at ‘The Dissident Code’, uplifting and awesome, the song title alone is an achievement. I find myself smiling upon hearing it. Onto the third track, ‘Mums bad punk music’, I’d already played this track many times before buying the album. Somewhere around the midpoint of the track the music changes, I’m told it’s called the drop b section (for those that understand musical terminology). It’s utterly wonderful. At track four, sadly almost halfway through the album, we reach ‘Are you convinced’. An orchestral intro before the vocal begins, bouncing riffs and harmonies that fit together like a musical puzzle. And I am convinced, convinced of the tracks stupendous brilliance. A powerful lyric snippet is: “What we want, what we need, are one in the same thing”. We reach track five ’Don’t change what can’t you understand’, again I’d heard this before the album many times, the message it conveys to me is one of anger at falsities, how some people in life don’t understand something that is authentic – the effort you have made for them was in vain. At track six we arrive at ‘Hate filters’, the guitars and drums roll in as if on the crest of a wave, then the first vocal “do you feel over unsatisfied “, upon hearing the intonation of the voice you feel the opposite of unsatisfied. Never before have I heard a voice sound so damn sexy. The final striking chords on ‘Hate filter’ may leave you feeling nervous but will also blow your mind in the best way. Track seven moves us reluctantly ever nearer to the end, ‘You can’t lose what you don’t have’, lyrically it seems to speak of love lost and found, emotional awakening, finding something unexpected and wonderful. At track eight, we arrive at ‘Conception territory’, notes slide into each other at times and at others bounce of each other. A samba style beat interlude, then the rousing vocal “don’t leave me here, say that you love me”. There is something for everyone in this track. The penultimate track, ‘No 273’, comes from a dark place, it seems to discuss the tragedy of war, placing terrorism and war as one in the same thing, governmental focus on numbers rather than human life. Though poetic meaning sometimes is transmuted by the listener, this is what the song means to me. The final track, ‘I have reached my limit’ and if I had to choose, just pick one track, this would be it. Quite possibly one of the best songs ever written. I find it impossible to describe (which is unlike me because words are usually my friend). I will just say that, to me, this song is so amazing that it transcends definition. Ten tracks are all too few really but each of the ten is pure quality.

Additionally, the B sides on ‘Don’t change what you can’t understand’ and ‘Mums bad punk music’ singles were more than fantastic enough to reach the final album selection, particularly ‘Crush-ed’. Strangely the track ‘Pain Agency’ was not included on the album that shares its name. A mystery that only Sucioperro can solve.

To utilise a quote from ‘The dissident code’, I listen to 'Pain Agency' and it “makes me feel so good, it makes me feel so positive”. Corny though that may sound, it’s fact. 'Sucioperro' as a band, and 'Pain Agency' as an album would probably be inserted into the rock category, yet it transcends category and label – classical at times, funky at others, you may even say that pop makes an appearance. This concludes my thoughts and feelings for now, other than to say this – buy the album, buy the first album, buy the singles and if you need further convincing check 'Sucioperro' out first on You Tube or at www.myspace.com/sucioperro.

If 'Sucioperro' be the food of love, play on.

xxx