The Commercials - Laugh Tracks

​The Commercials

​Laugh Tracks
self-released; 2015

3.4 out of 5

By Ted Rogen

The Commercials is the duo Brandon Unpingco and Karsten Fischer. On their recent three-song release entitled Laugh Tracks they give us a sample of their music. The music revolves around drums, guitar, bass and vocals which are a tip of the hat to rock from the ‘50s and early ‘60s. Early Beatles, The Animals and The Penguins are decent reference points to the type of music they play. 

They open with “Emotion Potion” which certainly has that original rock n’ roll sound. It’s a solid song that embraces the tropes of rock that people have come to love. The vocalist has a good voice and certainly seems to sing with the spirit of some of the forefathers of the genre. 

​He sings, “I told my baby, I ain’t gonna leave her alone” which if sung in a different way could come off as an obsessive stalker. Luckily, it sounds like he is just talking about persistence and comes off as innocuous. My only minor quibble is the band gets off time on occasion throughout the song.

The second track “Loser” is another success, which is ultimately carried by the vocals. The vocalist switches it up in terms of singing style, which makes the song engaging. He sings over a simple chord progression that is easy to enjoy. The verbal athletics start a little over a minute in the song. They close with “I've Been Comin' Home” which feels like it came right out of the ‘50s. It catchy, sing-along worthy and also happens to feel familiar in a number of ways. 

Bands who pay homage to certain eras in music is nothing new. There is nothing wrong with that and in fact there have been many bands that have risen to fame because they were unapologetic about their influences.

The Commercials certainly have nailed down a style we have seen done before. The hard part is seeing if they can infuse their own essence into an already celebrated style.

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