TWINKLE DUDU would like to give a heartfelt THANKS to eriktuz... peace, love, and Punk Rock!!!
Probably one of my early fondest memories of the then booming underground SRA scene, aside from writing fanzines, was watching devil-may-care acts literally smashing their sets on some decrepit hole-in-the-wall venues I wish I had never gone in the first place. But I did. Until hearing a relatively young band so brilliantly explosive I would imagine being transported into a real humoungous rock arena with huge sound production to booth rather than some dingy pub of a place. One of those youthful nothing-to-lose bands I would gladly put into that warp picture in my head is Twinkle Dudu(craft-wise, these lads were literally underground’s big thing next to The Ambassadors at that time). And putting their disc after a night of an explosive jaw-hanging set had always brought me relatively closer back to home, pun intended.
After first spin, you would immediately hear the ghost of maturity and sheer craftmanship seeping through the tracks as JB Bolaron channels his distant melodramas of loneliness and the tragic. Evidently, on the second track entitled Guilt Trip, he pours, “…and everything that makes you smile we forget“. Yes, melodramatic. Schmaltzy, even. But not to the extent of being sappily-clichéd or emotionally-clutched. In fact, these songs veer away from anything “emo” as much as possible. JB’s snotty yet gut-feel vocals only provides a cohesive layer to the remaining figures of the band. Chris Janulgue’s twangy melodic riffs (whose resumé, by the way, includes formerly manning the guitars for the seminal local hardcore group, Mea Culpa and as well as doing session works for The Ambassadors), drummer GBox Deiparine’s stacatto double pedal attack (currently playing sideworks for grind/metal outfit, Barang) and bassist Fritz Mesa’s camouflagic slaps completed the whole “Dudu sound” which easily reminds you of a younger Slick Shoes or a more melodic Lifetime - but definitely more on a league of their own.
Their are actually a million nice things I would have a say about this record but I’d say I’d left the appreciative pigeonholing to the listeners. And too bad, they didn’t include any Karen Carpenter cover ditties on the record since they were so fucking good at it. But hey, probably those things are better left for showbands and B-rate novelty acts, don’t you think?
Their latest EP is a walking statement of a band who continues to carve a niche in a time of split-second achievements. Always there to remind us that you never needed major label attention or media fuzz to pave a path of sonic greatness. That all you ever needed, in the first place, were power chords and the passion to breed longevity. Or maybe a little bit of talent, and just that.
by eriktuz
