MP3: Willis the Fireman by Flotation Walls
Flotation Walls, lead in one version or another by Carlos Avendaño, have been haunting the Columbus music scene for what seems like nearly a decade. During those years there have been flourishes of activity and long periods of apparent dormancy. But one thing we’ve been missing throughout is a proper full length from these guys. So to say that the release of the Nature LP tomorrow at Skully’s has been a long time coming is no exaggeration.
I mean, with all the talk and speculation and legitimate anticipation surrounding a release date and the subsequent passage of those dates, this record is pretty much Columbus’s Chinese Democracy. Really- after the release of a nugget or two in 2003, people were pissed when this thing was delayed until December of 2004. The Chinese Democracy comparison is mostly for the sake of humor, but it has its utility too. In both cases, the elapsed time between conception and delivery was used by the respective captains to tweak, add to, and retool the contents and production in an effort to produce a grandiose master work. To a degree both Carlos and Axl have, in striving for an epic album, managed a certain amount of success and at times to overdo it as well. The analogy begins to break down when looking at the final product though, as the triumph versus try-too-hard ratio clearly favors the Flotation Walls. Continue reading
