This is a quick four-track EP from this instrumental unit that fuses a strange palette of influences similar to everything from Black Flag or The Jesus Lizard to indie or math rock flavors. So you start off with the grating, angular riffing of "Surf", which, after one lighter passage, eventually ascends into a wall of complete noise that goes so far as to include one complete drum track in each speaker for added chaos; but then it's on to the laidback melodies and fuzzed out guitar drones of "Don't Send Me Home", which kind of builds and repeats over the course of nearly six minutes. "Bananarchy" is similar in its use of lightly fuzzy drones, with that particular effect given slightly more prominence, as are some quick little lead breaks and a couple of riffs that kind of walk a line between 70's rock 'n' roll and angular indie/punk with a harsher edge to the guitar tone. A lot of this stuff doesn't really hit me one way or the other, but I will say that some of the strange little arpeggios and solos in this one are pretty damn cool. "Circus" is the longest track right at seven minutes and sort of hits on all of the sundry styles tossed around in the prior compositions, from the slightly early-80's punk rock power chords to the ringing melodies and psychedelic bass pulses, or the abstract layers of not-quite-noisiness and lulled ambient textures created by the guitars towards the end. The recording's not bad. They're sort of going for a dry, stripped down sort of sound that has a "hip" kind of dated quality to it, and I think they need a little more contrast in the mix, but I do love that the bass tone pulses along nicely and forces its way into the core of the mix, while the percussion sounds totally dry and natural (albeit somewhat distant at times). I can appreciate the aesthetic value of what they've achieved here, and I think they should retain a lot of that, but more clarity and crispness could definitely add some detail to what they've got going on from a layering standpoint by helping to highlight the way the instruments are interacting with one another. There's not much to the layout, mainly spiraling line designs with a little bit of clean text and some scribbled yellow shapes. That's about it, really. As I said, much of this material doesn't particularly hit me one way or the other, but that's not really a bad thing. I don't dislike this, I'll make that clear. And I do like certain passages quite a bit. It's just not something that I would choose to listen to regularly, you know? Perhaps it's just a matter of personal taste, as there's really nothing wrong with this EP, it's a pretty solid effort. I think the band will likely win me over to a larger degree in the future, but I can easily see how certain crowds would be into this record. There's definitely some cool stuff happening here and there.
[The Perpetual Motion Machine]
Running time - 19:54, Tracks: 4
[Notable tracks: Bananarchy, Circus]
The Perpetual Motion Machine - http://www.theperpetualmotionmachine.com
