iSound

Bending the house of rock to a place where it kisses the remnants of pop and hip hop's bountiful communion: that's what is heard and seen when up-front vocalist Chaka Malik, guitarist Taylor McLam and drummer Matthew Cross-professionally known as Orange 9mm-use their signature styles to create a multi-genre injected sound that is uniform, yet unpredictable. The end result is Pretend I'm Human (Ng Records) ­ 10 songs destined to live long and prosper in your CD player. Pretend I'm Human - written by the New York-based band in its entirety during an eight week holdout in an intimate LA studio, was co-crafted with the blessings and endless talents of producer/mixer Neil Perry (Smashing Pumpkins, Everclear). "I haven't heard anything like this before in my life," says Perry of the LP. "The tunes are part fuck-raw, backed with this live-in-the-moment intensity." "Spontaneity was the key to this album," confesses an amped up Malik. He and his crew love thei...