The Specimen
Do U Damage
Peace Bisquit 

Judging a book by its cover, you might expect Brooklyn’s The Specimen to be some form of rap/rock hybrid.  Something in the vein of a third generation Limp Bizkit cover band.  However, although the brass knuckle imagery and ebonic song titles reek of a band trying to be so tough and edgy their unintentional camp levels are approaching the outer atmospheres, these are merely affectations.  The Specimen are actually a rock/electro mash-up consisting of one member, Matt Gorny. 

After spending his childhood in Poland, Gorny moved to New York and started toying with music.  Eventually he caught the eye of a local production company and Do U Damage is the result.  Notably eclectic and bold in its vision, Do U Damage attempts to blur genre and eschew labels with it’s Oasis-meets-the Faint-meets-the Beatles concoction.  Unfortunately, the six songs on this EP sounds more like a huge mess of sound than genre-hopping mind benders. 

No, take that back.  Your mind will be bent.  There are so many layers thrown on top of eachother that your head will be spinning.  If things were only toned down a bit and moderated, as they are with the Beck-flavored ‘Hot Stuff’ and the playful ‘Move Like That’, Do U Damage’s blender of pop, rock, and dance would be both refreshing and addictive.  However, instead we are subjected to too much excess and not enough calmer moments to recover and rest our ears.

I won’t pretend there isn’t an audience for this much tinkered and tampered hodge podge of dance beats.  It’s just that Gorny seems to be a musician much more talented and capable than what Do U Damage implies.  Here’s to the hope that future releases strip away the superflouous layers and focus on the real goods- they’re definitely there.

MP3
Listen to tracks at The Specimen’s Myspace page