Review: Dig Shovel Dig “Recent Works From the Most Important Composers in the Universe” 7”

I don't know what the hell this is supposed to be, but ironically the closest thing I can think of to compare it some of it to is Especially Likely Sloth (though clearly not as crazy), which I doubt these guys (or many people at all, for that reason) have heard. Expect weird electronic compositions complete with Casio sounding keyboards and programmed beats with weird singing vocals that are kind of delivered in this warbled monotone pitch that's low without being too low. I assume there's supposed to be a sense of humor here, but it's not too terribly evident aside from certain characteristics of the music. It's hard to make out the lyrics, and the song titles and artwork aren't lighthearted or anything, so... go figure. Side B opens with "Buddy Chase", which starts off with solid basslines and percussion (both of which are live - not generated with keybaords) and has a Talking Heads sort of thing going on overall (especially vocally), just more frantic and noisy with some added textures going on underneath. This style continues with "Trivial Pursuit", and is much more interesting musically than what was going on with Side A, though still as strange and unexpected. If nothing else the production and packaging are nice. The sound is warm and clear and has a good mix, and I have no complaints about any of the individual elements. I'm not particularly into the vocal style at all but it's still recorded well. The one difference is the blaring and raw "Panther", which sounds much thinner and nastier, but is of course supposed to sound that way, so... in that regard its harshness is acceptable and makes sense. The record comes in a great looking screenprinted sleeve using three colors of ink on matte red paper. There's no insert for lyrics or anything, just some odd phrases handwritten inside along with the sleeve being numbered out of 110 copies. It looks great though, definitely. I don't know, I'm not into this, and I think part of that is because there's an undeniable hipster element to this (which I'll confess being almost unfairly predisposed to hating in any band), but to their credit this duo is not generic at all - they're not simply taking some basic or accessible road whatsoever. So, I don't particularly like it, but... at least they're doing something off the wall.