Boom Box Repair Kit are a quirky bunch of rockers that mix indie rock with the diversity of merengue, prog rock, funk and pop. Their album, My Dear Antagonist is a strange record that fears no genre or kind of instrumentation and attempts at staking out musical territory that is all their own.
Unfortunately, Boom Box Repair Kit kind of achieves mixed results. While My Dear Antagonist has some great ideas, the album for the most part sounds like a 90's funk metal album that's recently been unearthed in a cut-out bin. Several of the songs here sound a bit tired and cliche and the album suffers greatly from this. No offense guys but the Chili Peppers and the like did this already nearly 18 years ago (heck...they're still doing it), and did it better so there's nothing new being offered here.
There are, however, some bright spots amongst the sea of funk metal. When the band leaps into merengue mode they are clearly at their best and sounds as if they're having the most fun. It's awesome to hear Afro-Caribbean music played with distortion and to hear the energy level of Boom Box Repair Kit jump up about 150%. They clearly love this form of music, so why they're not working moreof it into their sound is beyond me. Their take on merengue allows them stand out and makes them weird, but in the best possible way. "I'd Rather Dance With A Stranger," is a frenzied guitar work out that reminds me of Little Havana gone metal; it's great stuff.
Boom Box Repair Kit clearly have tons of potential they just need to harness it and channel it into creating a unique identity for themselves. My Dear Antagonistis just a bit too cliche for it's own good; with a bit of polish and originality it could be so much more. Boom Box Repair Kit have got the sound and energy with their rocked out merengue jams, they just need to figure out how to channel that into all their songs. When they do that, the world may never be the same.
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