So that sounds like an interesting gimmick, right? But how does it sound? This will rock your face off. Serious. At the risk of going on and on about all the bands I saw play at the INC in Miami, This Is My Condition stirred up the fiercest mosh action there, complete with dudes stage-diving off his kick drum! (because he was playing on the floor, see?) Unfortunately, this DVD documents some shows with more sedate audiences, but This Is My Condition still gets them moving.

Because the guitar is being played with drum sticks, it mostly sounds like noisy finger-tapping (again, a bit like Lightning Bolt) or noisy slide guitar, rather bluesy even at times. At times the guitar is sampled and looped, but usually this is just so that a second guitar part can be played over the top. And in between all the high-energy stuff, there are just enough quieter tension-building songs (that really work!) to make the rock really hit you. The footage is clear and steady, with some relatively non-distracting effects here and there, and the sound is good. At times the camera microphone is overblown, but it still sounds great. It’s pretty captivating to watch this music being made, but the music is also good enough on its own that I wish it came with a CD of just the audio.

Comes in a nice recycled-LP sleeve, on Sounds From The Pocket.

http://www.thisismycondition.com/
http://www.myspace.com/thisismycondition
http://soundsfromthepocket.com/catalog.htm