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WATCH THE
FUTURE APE TAPES
Reincamations»»
Independent Release
Available for free on their website
(futureapetapes.com), the latest by
this Athens duo is more topography
and atmosphere than conventional
pop composition. But liberation from
the discipline of song structure is
more often a blessing for the artist,
not the listener. Though not as guilty
as jam bands, experimental ambient
music has been the umbrella for a lot
of pointless indulgence. Fortunately.
Reincarnalions»» isn’t a collection
of go-nowhere sonic wanderings.
Sure, their chill cerebral streams fade
into each other more like an impres
sionistic collage of memories rather
than tidy melodies. But there's enough
craft in the vignettes of song that show
whenever the sonic lens focuses to
suggest some capability and curiosity
at work here.
Nearly 13 minutes long, ‘Life’ is
more like two songs in one—going
from outward, sun-kissed tides to an
introverted orbital groove. After open
ing like a dawn, ’Afterlife’ breaks down
into a subterranean rap interlude and
ends up in outer space. ‘Death’ is
largely unremarkable, but the hypnotic
rhythm of ‘AfterDeath’ weathers a
muted storm of puising sounds until it
emerges on the other side as a warped
and sedated No Age-esque melody
afloat in Wonderland.
Bao Le-Huu
Future Ape Tapes are playing at Go
Baron Tuesday, May 10.
PANDA BEAR
Tom Boy
Paw Tracks
Noah Lennox's latest album as
Panda Bear eschews the sprawling,
meandering format of 20071s Person
Pitch. The songs hew closer to a verse/
chorus structure, with only one track
over five minutes. Lennox establishes
the beat within the first half-minute or
so, and then hels off.
And yet it's astounding how unhur
ried the record sounds. This relaxed
feel might owe something to Tom Bo/s
relative simplicity when compared with
Person Pitch. The latter featured songs
that developed so slowly their growth
became part of their character; the pro
cess behind the song vied for attention
with the song itself. The new record's
production, neither busy nor sparse,
tends to recede into the background
as the song's basic elements emerge.
At moments, it can seem that Lennox's
harmonies are all you hear. This is in
fact the case with the first track, “You
Can Count on Me.’ The songs a cap-
pella opening is reminiscent of Fleet
Foxes' debut, a remarkable correlation
given the basic acoustic/electronic
divide between the two artists. Like
Bradford Cox on his recent Bedroom
Databank releases, Lennox seems to
be reaching back to the influences in
which his music is rooted—even as he
grows more influential himself.
Marshall Yarbrough
I WAS TOTALLY
DESTROYING IT
Preludes
Greyday
This 10-track collection of songs
is largely written by guitarist/vocal
ist Josh Booker. Although conceived
initially as a precursor to a new LP,
Preludes became a proper album itself
after undergoing full-band arrange
ments. It’s a tight and concise state
ment concerning the band's dedication
to trieo-and-true indie-rock styling.
That's not necessarily the slight it
might seem at first, and there's really
something to be said about not trend
hopping Even so. IWTDI is totally mar
ried to early-*90s college rock.
There are certain moments in the
album that give pause, such as the
quite nice, mid-tempo number “When
Chaos Comes.’ And the albumls
undoubted highlight is “Twenty-
Thousand,' a bitter rocker about an
irritating time-waster of a person whom
the protagonist is constantly avoiding.
The song plays by one of rock's basic
rules, too: a joyful tune with a half
cathartic lyric.
But two songs aren't enough to
pay more than fleeting attention to
Preludes. There's so much on here
that piques the listeners interest just
enough (the keyboards and vocals in
’Control,’ the contemplative ’Fight/
Flight’), but I'd be lying if I said I was
totally destroyed by any of it.
Gordon Lamb
THE HUCE BROTHERS
Celebration, Florida
Fat Possum
The array of sounds that The Felice
Brothers pack into their newest release
makes for a compellingly schizophrenic
47-plus minutes Moments of respite
are allowed to intersperse the first
couple of tracks and grow more pres
ent near the end, frequently evoking
the balladry of Dylan circa Modern
Times. Elsewhere, familiar sounds
and techniques of some of the best
pop-experimental ists are thrown into
the mix of dense yet catchy numbers,
detailing the lives of real and fictional
characters
A list of stylistic references could
be easily drawn up, but The Felice
Brothers distinguish themselves from
their forebears more frequently than
they recall them. The Brothers drink
from a trough of influences similar to
Wilco. but their songs are only similar
in that they share tuneful, literate
vocals. The Brothers use electronic
music as a source of inertia that drops
in and out of the mix unexpectedly,
building to a rousing, horn-spangled
chorus or suddenly disappearing, leav
ing the listener in a simmering folkie
dirge.
Brian Veysey
SCREENS
Dead House
What Delicate
Springing from the ranks of
interesting outfits like dope D C.
band The Apes, Dischord Records
act Medications and San Francisco's
The Mall, Screens is proudly in line
with the leading experimental bands
seriously looking to rewrite the rules
of rock and pop music. Fusing bright
psychedelic splashes, dark primeval
currents and the sinister organs
reminiscent of both The Apes and The
Mall, the future primitivism of this full-
length debut is a dense and dizzying
merge of styles blended in a way that
defies obvious historical reference.
The album's most riveting moments
come via the tribal exuberance of
“Saturdays,’ the macabre clatter of
‘Pop Logic,’ the disorienting onslaught
of “Man Down,’ the rising storm of
“Fall Girl’ and the sky-shooting Parts
& Labor-esque rush of ‘35’ and
‘Cataplexy.’
Mining similarly dystopian ground
as Liars and Black Feelings, its sound
is dire but unquestionably vivid and
unsettled, like a fever dream. But unlike
other more difficult contemporaries
who dare tread this arcane frontier.
Screens miraculously maintains
melodic intelligibility even while dan
gling on the visceral precipice.
Bao Le-Huu
CHRISSAKES/
THE CONVOCATION
Split 12”
Trans Ruin/ One Percent Press
ThereS almost a throwback vibe
to Chrissakes' half of tnis split 12’
with Baltimore's The Convocation. The
teeling hits you at the breakdown of
“Granby,’ the first time you hear the
bluesy swung rhythms the band favors.
On the surface, the band can seem
jagged, but guitarist Drew Smith's
solos have an organic feel, a pentatonic
warmth Rob Thomason's drum parts
are elaborate, but any mathiness is
erased by his loose playing; it's almost
Keith Moon-like. In fact, were it not
for Smith's vocals, you might think
Chrissakes had skipped the legacy of
'80s and UOs hardcore entirely.
Oddly, what keeps the band together
is what makes it so hard to pin down.
Helen Rheinhart’s parts are at times
nimble and melodic, and at others they
consist of massive single notes that
bend the direction of the others’ playing
as if around a gravitational center.
The Convocation's half is con
siderably more epic, relying on the
interplay between vocal and guitar
melodies. It can be a bit overblown, as
with the extended soloing on the last
instrumental track. There are moments,
however, when the band ditches extra
weight and achieves a menacing sim
plicity akin to early PJ Harvey.
Marshall Yarbrough
FOLKLORE
Home Church Road
Single Girl Married Girl
Folklore’s debut album, The Ghosl
of H.W. Beaverman, had an elusive
charm The songs were like whispered
conversations, half overheard. Each
melody was haunting but obscured, as
if covered in dust. This never went well
in concert; onstage, you can't whisper.
But the band's third album, Home
Church Road, has all the exuberance
its old shows lacked. Like the first two
records, it is built around a concept,
something like world apocalypse as
small-town tall tale. Beaverman was
a reserved record that rewarded close
listening; Home Church Road shows
off its strengths.
*A Few Years Later’ makes use of
punchy guitar distortion, its chorus
benefiting from quirky but full-bodied
horns; ’The Party’ has the same sub
stantial quality. Jimmy Hughes' song
writing shines with added confidence
He is comfortable in the role of racon
teur. His use of the concept album form
owes a debt to Ray Davies, but Hughes
doesn't share Davies' cynicism. He has
more in common with John Darnielle of
the Mountain Goats. Though Darnielle^
work is more personal, its allure lies
in being simultaneously intimate and
forthcoming—a quality Folklore has
done well to achieve.
Marshall Yarbrough
14 FLAGPOLE.COM-MAY 11,2011
