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Local band worth a listen
 Media Credit: Jessica Tonsfeldt The Dueling Pianos performed for a large crowd at The Red Carpet Wednesday night. They are scheduled to entertain every Wednesday night as a regular act at The Red Carpet.
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Mahkato
“Fighting the urge to start fires”
“Self-released)
The first song off this four-track CD goes a long way towards introducing Mahkato’s unique sound and musical paradox. The first track brings you in with a smooth, clean sound that seems more native to a lounge act than to a rock band. Then the vocals start and strike a contrast that remains prevalent in all four tracks.
Guttural rasping set over smooth guitars. How does this work? At first the contrast draws attention to the sound, as does any kind of music that can’t initially be separated into a specific genre.
Also, the abrasive vocals provide a clear and unavoidable understanding of the lyrics, which unfold into desperate rants steeped with self-hate and frustration.
“Pendulum Pendulate Remind me that I’ve become what I’ve hate,” begins the chorus of the first track, the only one that seems to follow a verse/chorus pattern, but not very strictly. None of the four songs break the four-minute mark, with the shortest clocking in at 2:58. This time crunch doesn’t really leave space for repeating anything. Mahkato’s dual guitar parts continually change so they keep you guessing where the song is going next, yet there is still a strong sense of unity within the song.
The delivery of the vocals is just as varied as the scurrying of the guitars. Sometimes whispering sometimes rasping, sometimes screaming, sometimes speaking, and sometimes even singing, the dual vocalists of Mahkato come at you from a variety of directions.
The lyrics rarely form rhymes and rarely describe anything using more than a couple of words. But the impact is maintained, and even amplified, by the realism these raw confessions harness. We connect to it as the unformed, unpoetic language of our impulsive minds.
“I should be thinking this is you thinking things I should be thinking. This is true fascination. This is true motivation.” And “With a devil on each shoulder. With ill intentions. The first five chambers were empty. This one is not.” .
Mahkato really piles a lot into a 3-minute song.
“Fighting the urge to Set fires” is a violently impatient struggle to vent emotions. Merging the polar contrasts of rasping vocal styles and smooth, intricate guitar riffs bass and drums, Mahkato resists all attempts to be lumped into a single genre, and thus forces a second listen, a third listen and a fourth listen. At a total of 13:16, giving Mahkato a trial on your home stereo truly is a low- risk investment. And if you ask anyone, the reward of discovering emerging local bands is very much worth it.
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