I perfectly understand Daniel Hunter's frustration. Really, I do. As PlayRadioPlay!, the Aledo native did get lumped into the mall-punk scene by a lot of people--us here at DC9 included.
But, upon going back and listening to the still super-young 20-year-old's debut, Texas, which was released on Island Records shortly after he was signed as just a 17-year-old, you can hear some real interesting, real promising stuff on there.
And, as we've seen in recent months, his artistic progression is only continuing--seriously, go back and listen to his latest leaked track, the dark, brooding "Concerning Philip Garrido." It's actually a pretty great song, recalling, at times, a young John Congleton. And, honestly, that's meant as a comliment to both parties.
So it makes sense, then, that, as Hunter told us last month, he's changing his performance name from PlayRadoPlay! to Analog Rebellion, as a means to further separate himself from the mall-punkers of the region. Can't really blame him, can you? Quite literally, he's trying to make a new name for himself. That transformation will come much closer to completion sometime next month, when, as Hunter announced yesterday via a MySpace post that includes the individual track names, he'll release his 15-track Analog Rebellion debut called Ancient Electrons.
We'll be eagerly awaiting it--I can say that much. Because, remember, he's only 20 years old--and he's already had a failed go with the major label world.
Catch him live, as Analog Rebellion, at Third String Productions' Unsilent Night 3 event on Sunday, December 27, at Dr Pepper Arena in Frisco.