Florida=Death are back with the best god damned album of the year. You heard me. This is front to back my favorite collection of songs to be put out in CT in 2012. I defy any and all of you musicians to make me eat my words. There are still 2 months left.
"tension: unresolved" opens the LP with a looping intro filled with samples. It coalesces into a warm and thoughtful song that sounds like Yo La Tengo and Animal Collective collaborated on a track. The vocals are warm and beautiful. The harmonies are well selected. It builds and builds until the loop is at full density. It explodes and fades into "grey 2b kind" which we reviewed as part of a single this summer "x_________________".
"grey 2b kind" starts like a freak out folk song but quickly turns into several other songs over time. Theres a jazzy/noise breakdown and then it turns creepy, like Twin Peaks creepy. Then it turns into a sort of chanting nightmare, followed by a drum heavy haunting deep off beat outro. This may be the strangest track 2 single I have ever heard. Elements of "paranoid android" without sounding ANYTHING like it. Several different audio environments are shown to us.
"Re: disappointment" is the first of 2 songs musically and titularly related. This one is a restless and dark song with amazingly off beat drums and rich beautifully brooding music. The guitar, keys and samples are perfect to create the lush soundscape presented. This song is pretty fantastic. It is followed by a "suffix" of a song "(continued) disappointment" which acts as different perspective. A different beat but the same melody and samples. This further meditation of the theme is a perfect segway along with the following track "the portals and vortexes that never open where i'm at" to track 6 "deeper more fulfilling empty". This is a moody and deep dark song. It's musical theme is similar to "the portals..." and other songs that appear later in the album. I have been internally referring to this theme as the Post Information Theme. I'll reference it as such when it appears from this point forward but it's important to keep in mind that when it appears it is usually in a different key or a faster/slower tempo. Every time it appears it seems to be different.
"supermundane deja vu" is another of my favorite tracks. It poses as a simple down-low folk song but it is a much deeper piece than it first lets on. Musically it is just as brooding and deep as anything previously heard on the LP but its lighter instrumental sound seems even more dangerous than the more aggressive sounds from before.
"empty space" sounds like another interlude, but it is still more environment for the listener to inhabit. It is uneasy, confrontational and cold, even a little lonely. Much like empty space itself can be! Then into another isolated song "masturbate (all alone always)". This one is wicked claustrophobic and meandering but nonetheless effective and creepy.
Then comes another favorite of mine "...eventual ending of a life long run on sentence" which is fierce and unforgiving. The awkward back beat is unforgettable once it seeps into your head. The bass and shouting vocals compliment each other so well. By the time this song comes toward its end it is a swollen giant cacophony of intensity. This song is unlike any other song on this LP with its energy and excitability. I saw this song live and it was easily the most fun to see out of a collection of incredibly innovative songs.
"empty space suit" goes to the other extreme, dark slow brooding folk. This song also shouldn't get snubbed simply because it was acoustic guitar in it. This is a beautifully uneasy song. It isn't meant for lovers of folk music. It has a blackened heart. Additional samples and sounds come in to guide this somber creeping song to its peaceful, if not foreboding end.
Next is the stand out track on this album "matter: that which does, and that which doesn't" which starts with an upbeat and eerie version of the Post Information Theme. The drums are fantastic here, as is the additional programmed percussion. This first part of the song to me, represents the Post Information Theme in its best form. Then it slips into one of the coolest, if not confusing song parts I have EVER heard. It is a loop, which not only has a really complicated drum beat, but is also somewhat audibly offensive. This is the kind of stuff I really get behind, myself. It sounds like bits of feedback and an out of tune brass section. Another live gem, this is a completely mesmerizing part of the song. After weeks of listening to this I still get this part of this song constantly stuck in my head. Finally we close the track out with a super fast jam. Drums, guitar, bass and all manner of samples is used to build up to a frenzied energy spazz attack. "matter..." is totally this LP's "centerpiece".
Closing out the LP is "run out luck (Bruce's song)", another slower jam but still very cerebral. The vocals are again wonderful, and the slow down slips add to the "molasses" effect of keeping this song sluggishly slow. It doesn't come across as self-indulgent though, it strikes more as an unnervingly slow period on the fantastically complicated run on sentence of this grand LP. This album is a complete and wonderful collection, a statement on the direction of modern art and civilization. I am a total convert.
Get this LP from the band itself at the following shows or pick up the tape at Anonymous Dog Tapes.
Here are some upcoming shows!
Halloween night in Alston, MA. (hit up Pedro Hobbs for the address)
November 1st takes place on the UNH campus in West Haven (hit up Pedro Hobbs for the address and details)
November 3 The Handsome Woman - 271 Ash Street - Willimantic, CT
6pm | $5 | Vegan potluck With SOFX, Human Host( Baltimore) & American Folklore(Baltimore)
No comments:
Post a Comment