sinaloa

footprints on floorboards

footprints on floorboards - lp/cd - 2005
released by waking records (cd), owsla records (lp)

purchase on:

songs:
my hands hold fire
polar bears and cubs
only in dreams
november’s unanswered questions
tracing portraits
words through wires
static
green street
regard to structure
with our ears to the soil

recorded throughout the winter of 2005 at machines with magnets by mike viele and keith souza.

mastered at west westside by alan douches

illustrations by jack long

photographs by josh peach

layout by sinaloa/equivalents

CDs pressed at imprint

LPs pressed by pirates press at gz media

reviews

splendidezine.com
There’s something to be said for playing straight-ahead post-punk without a bassist. Bands like Lightning Bolt and Orthrelm get some serious noise out of their guitars and drums, but Massachusetts-based Sinaloa are more interested in sticking to standard song structures. Footprints On Floorboards is far closer to the DC sound of bands like Rites Of Spring and Q And Not U and the hardcore of 400 Years and Sleepytime Trio; Peter Zetlan and Brendan Campbell’s angular guitars chase each other around Lucas Pearson’s pounding drums, and the screamed vocals would be overwrought if they weren’t so passionate.

Sinaloa’s passion, indeed, is the trio’s biggest touchstone. “November’s Unanswered Questions” appears to be a common defeatist tale about the morning after 2004’s presidential re-election, but this one is tempered with a third grader’s innocent disbelief: “The little ones know more than we ever will / … / My heart is heavy, full and defeated / Dismal because your words hit so true, and I was speechless.” The wrenching lyrics smash through the music, giving shape to otherwise faceless songs.

The lack of a bass is noticeable, although the trio entertains a double-bass player guest on “Polar Bears And Clubs” and closer “With Our Ears To The Soil”, and a trombone on “Regard To Structure”. Most songs simply lack the bottom end that typically grounds the music: Sinaloa have consciously left that permanent hole in their sound to remind them of a good friend who would have played bass, but passed away. “Words Through Wires“‘s tells of that terrible morning, with the worst wake-up call imaginable: “Trouble came to me early / This morning as I rose from bed / Without knowing it / Hung up that receiver / And it whispered words I had never heard.”

Footprints On Floorboards’s CD booklet includes an explanation of every song: “Polar Bears And Cubs” is an ode to family, “Static“‘s take on the psychologically draining corporate work environment will be familiar to current and former cube jockeys, and “With Our Ears To The Soil” is a nostalgic look back upon a young life and the riches that transience brings. You could argue that such explanations kill the music’s mystique, or remove our own imagined meanings from the process, but most listeners will appreciate these definitive interpretations.

Sinaloa’s adrenaline and emphatic passion make up for any perceived holes in their music, deliberate or otherwise. The band, which takes its name from a state in Mexico, performs as a collective: everyone sings and the lyrics are uncredited. As a result, Footprints On Floorboards is a unified emotional vision, deep in resolve and impressive in scope.

Andrew Mall

flexyourhead.net
Remember when emo wasn’t so goddamn commercial? Sinaloa does, and this trio (who work sans a bassist) have channeled the progenitors of the genre on the outfit’s 10-track sojourn such as Rites of Spring and to an extent, Fugazi. “Only In Dreams” showcases a twin guitar cacophony over a tortured vocal, as “Tracing Portraits” displays the band’s social consciousness as well as their stellar musicianship and “Static” explores the staleness of corporate America from a proletarian focus yearning to break those heavy chains with jangly guitars and off-time drums in tow. Emblazoned with an excellent visual presentation (the booklet has both lyrics and explanations for each track) and an impassioned performance captured, Sinaloa gives out a blueprint by which to not only understand its music, but hopefully comprehend humanity on a whole as well. Captivating and enchanting, if you dig At The Drive In’s barrage of sound and the discord of early post-hardcore, then Sinaloa is worth checking out.
mike sos

aversiononline.com
Next is Sinaloa’s “Footprints on Floorboards” CD. This is the second full-length from this bassless trio (using two guitars, drums, and a multi-vocal approach) out of Massachusetts, but I had never heard them before. For the most part this is similar in style to Reds, but I’d say it tends to lean more towards the indie side of things as far as the tempos and overall feel are concerned. Once again I dig the relatively dry vocals which are basically just yelled, they’re not going for anything over the top there. And really the whole recording is pretty dry, which is actually quite well handled since I don’t find myself missing the bass at all. There’s a lot of cool dual guitar interaction that winds around nicely thanks to the panning in the mix, too. This stuff doesn’t strike me as particularly melodic in most instances, however, so I certainly feel like the strongest tracks herein (see below for examples) are able to connect with the emotional elements of the lyrics much more directly using more dynamic approaches where light melody presents itself. Yet another nice looking layout printed entirely with a matte finish on this one, where the lyrics are also similar to those of Reds, but include heartfelt song descriptions for a general direction that comes a little more from an introspective sort of viewpoint - perhaps more “dramatic”?

All of the profits from the sale of this album are being donated to the Sheila Brodie Zetlan Breast Cancer Foundation, which is quite an admirable move. So definitely snag this one if you’re into this particular style.

hanginghex.com
SINALOA, “Footprints On Floorboards”- This group tends to take the more introspective and subtle rocking approach of jangling emo punk (and no, not the bastardized corpse of it that has been commodified to the mall). Generally, this type doesn’t really appeal to me because there’s too much whining going on, and fixation on trivial subjects that a good meal and some cuddling with your favorite person won’t heal. Then again, a lot of these bands pride themselves on being social rejects (I personally think they just don’t try hard enough, or read “Catcher In the Rye” one too many times), and these medications apparently far removed from their realm of comprehension. Anyways, back to the subject at hand. Sinaloa takes on realistic and down-to-earth subjects, and has very common sense descriptions for these songs, which run the gamut from the death of family members, the bonds of family, repetition at work, and basically being a good human being I guess. It’s a sort of comforting approach that is nice to check out. comforting like the picture of the house on the record cover.

skratchmagazine.com
Controlled chaos is the key to the sophomore full-length release from this Massachusetts-based punk trio. Blending three screeching vocal lines, crashing drums, and a discordant pair of guitars creates a sense of both energy and confusion on this ambitious, abrasive album. The band has fashioned a unique and somewhat appealing sound out of what seems to be kind of a musical mess. There are no clean melodies or hum-along choruses on this disc, but rather a kind of tortured tone poem that oozes angst. The one song on the disc that does have a recognizable chorus “Only in Dreams”, is the most accessible tune (though even that song lurches to its final chorus like the sea on a choppy day). This is an interesting-but ultimately frustrating-album. -Dug

sound as language
So, “Footprints On Floorboards” is the follow up to Sinaloa’s excellent first album “Fathers And Sons”. That album was one that continuously grew on me till I found myself reaching for it extinctively at times. It was also an album that seemed to pull me back into this type of music which I had definitely strayed from a great deal. This is emo the way it was meant to be done…with passion, sincerity and of course, emotion. Sinaloa is obviously influenced by some of the godfathers of emo like Saetia, but you can also hear similarities with recent and current bands such as Vida Blue/Ten Grand, The Pine and The South. Sinaloa gets it done with the singy/screamy vocal style that so many emo bands seem to have done to death. With these guys though, it just feels right. They have such a command of what they want to do. The songs flow effortlessly in and out till the album comes to an almost hypnotizing end with the great track “With Our Ears To The Soil”. Reading the lyrics along with a little paragraph or so of what each song meant to the band makes me love this album even more. I can truly identify with what these guys are singing and how these guys feel and that makes the listening experience that much greater. And to prove that Sinaloa have their hearts and minds in the right place any profit from the sale of “Footprints On Floorboards” will be donated to the Sheila Brodie Zetlan Breast Cancer Foundation. All this adds up to a truly inspiring work of art by a great band at the top of their game.

centerfuse.net
This is exactly how I like my screamo: open, heartfelt, and not too close to metal. Sinaloa from Massachusetts captures the spirit I loved so much about bands like Saetia and You and I and modernizes it. The guitar is mostly clean or overdriven, not covered in layer after layer of distortion. The music is intense and driving and every member of the band sings/screams. The lyric booklet comes complete with explanations to each song so the listener can tell exactly what they’re screaming about. In most circumstances, this can be lame and take away from the subjective interpretation of music, but Sinaloa clearly has an agenda here. Many of the songs deal with losing family members and the grieving process that goes along with it. Cancer is a theme that pops up now and then, and one member speaks of losing his mother to breast cancer. All the proceeds from the sale of the album are going to a breast cancer foundation. This is an extremely good cause and some great music if you’re into bands like Saetia and Wolves. It’s not exactly what I listen to that often these days, but they certainly do it very well.

emotionalbreakdown.com
I Sinaloa non godono di certo di una fama mondiale, ma basterà aspettare ancora un po’ di tempo e sentirete parlarne ovunque. Sono sempre meno al giorno d’oggi i gruppi che ricordano la scena midwest dei ‘90, ed ancor meno quelli che ci riescono bene. Dopo due anni dal primo full-lenght, “Fathers And Sons” i Sinaloa tornano con “Footprints On Floorboards”, licenziato da Owsla e Waking records. Un disco dall’impatto immediato e che lascia pochi dubbi all’ascoltatore sulla propria qualità. Un mix tutto particolare di band come The Van Pelt, Bob Tilton e The Pine che coinvolge grazie al carico di emotività e “precisione” nell’esecuzione dei brani. E’ difficile non farsi ipnotizzare dalle chitarre che spesso seguono un ritmo ben definito e ripetitivo soltanto per poi spiazzarci con riff completamente diversi. Un’altra particolarità é il cantato, che nonostante veda come “titolare” soltanto uno dei tre, non esclude parti dove collaborano tutti, regalando diverse sfaccettature alle canzoni. Scorre velocemente e cresce ad ogni ascolto “Footprints On Floorboards” e non lascia passare inosservato l’impegno che i Sinaloa hanno messo nel confezionare tutto il prodotto. Un risultato veramente eccellente e che potrebbe essere considerato da alcuni il miglior album emo dell’anno.
Matteo

keritsu.net
Alors celui là je peux dire que je l’avais pas vu venir ! Jusqu’ici je ne connaissais que quelques morceaux de Sinaloa, trio (deux guitares, une batterie, trois chants) pratiquant un emocore plutôt traditionnel, assez mid-tempo et inspiré, mais là, avec ce nouveau et deuxième album c’est la claque ! Pour un peu, on se croirait revenu 10 ans en arrière, du temps des Native nod, Indian summer ou Portraits of past… car c’est exactement là que se situe ce nouvel album. Le style du groupe se cale d’ailleurs tellement sur ces groupes qu’on pourrait croire qu’il s’agit d’un disque enregistré en 1995 qu’un label défricheur aurait exhumé aujourd’hui…

Mais cela ne veut pas dire que Sinaloa n’est qu’une énième ressucée ou un simple trip à but nostalgique. Bien au contraire, tout ça est fait avec tellement de conviction et de passion qu’il est difficile de ne pas succomber si tant est qu’on apprécie un peu le genre, ce disque est largement au niveau de certains classiques de l’époque, c’est pour dire ! Tout y est : rythmiques variées et évolutives, vocaux alternant refrains scandés et spoken words, morceaux épiques avec leurs « explosions » et leurs passages voués à contemplation mélancolique, enregistrement live en studio avec un son naturel, le tout avec un soin tout particulier accordé aux guitares (ah, ces accords octave !), ça fait tout un ensemble qui créé ce mélange de tension perpétuelle, de véritables montagnes russes émotionnelles… Le genre de disque qui vous fait passer en un éclair du sourire à la larme à l’Å“il, sans jamais appuyer trop fort… juste les doses nécessaires.

Bref, je sais pas trop quoi rajouter, à part que si vous aimez l’emo, le vrai, vous vous devez d’écouter ce disque le plus vite possible, c’est obligatoire ! Et si vous ne connaissez pas vraiment le genre, je ne saurais que vous conseillez de commencer avec cette pièce maîtresse signée Sinaloa… vivement la tournée européenne !

theelephants.org
C’est par le genre de fin de soirée que je viens de passer qu’on apprend à apprécier un album aussi puissant que le dernier de Sinaloa l’est. La sensation du passage de l’eau chaude sur des mains raides et congelées, vous connaissez ? Un retour en vélo sous la pluie, vous connaissez ? Une pluie fine qui vous tombe sur la gueule par vagues, vous connaissez ? 20 minutes sous un système d’arrosage automatique pas automatique, vous connaissez ?
Le tout rythmé par du Sinaloa, les larmes se confondent aux gouttes, je frôle la tragédie du cycliste. Une montée de selle trempée, un pneu éclaboussant, sans garde-boue, le bitume hymne à la patinoire. Y’a pas que les feuilles qui commencent à tomber en cette saison…
Footprints on Floorboards, une pépite de taille bien conséquente, qu’il me faudra écouter et réécouter avant d’en savourer les 25%.
Malheureusement, ce disque tombe dans une période fatidique, l’arrivée de l’hiver qui s’annonce rude et sans pitié. Mais pour la peine, je me satisfais totalement dans le malheur.
Disque de l’année ou disque le plus représentatif du (vrai) style emo ? En tous cas un objet à part, complètement, 90’s power ! Tubes sur tubes, joies sur passions, on se sent bien petit face à un tel disque, à même se demander si, au final, on le mérite.