I'm just mining the surface of the Noise Pollution catalog with another single from the Louisville, KY label, this one from locals, Madame Machine a three piece who are a perfect pre-halloween post-rock creep soundtrack...or maybe that's just me.
A-Side's "Snakeface" is an instrumental of that nice, complex post rock sound trading off with a real metal sounding interlude, big crunch on this opposite rhythm verse part, then it starts to take over and drive this whole melody that's getting bigger and bigger. Tons of connected fills and intricate booming echo'd smacks. Are there strings in this? Could be a subtle sounding synth or swirly guitar effect. It slows down a little getting more classic rock sounding or even Hydrahead (R.I.P.) related in it's big dirge-y swaying back and forth. The bass and drum rhythm section providing that real straight line for the guitar to go way off the beaten path (pun intended). It picks back up and we're back into bits of phaser and hitting that tight snare. The track is a snake... winding back around, who keeps going for the tail, not realizing before it's too late. Sort of a long swirling Cure Faith style tempo, real creepy but before you can really come up with a soundscape or storyline they've moved on to another movement... it's got those operatic conclusions and connective tissues, leading to a larger whole. Crazy delay, wirey ending.
B-side "Crystal Ribbons" goes for a heavy indie feel this time with a far off distortion, it's real thin sounding and then....vocals? This is a completely different sound, real new wave kind of beefy, deep vocals for this thin slappy mix, mic'd right up into the snare, capturing the loudest metallic snaps, but this melody is dark, like something from Blood on the Wall. They've got a real unique sound here without even trying for it, it's got all those raw garage starts, but comes off chilling and carefully put together like a delicate leaning pile of dirty glasses.
"The Great Shame" gets into booming tom and that guitar really wants to go metal again, with a tremolo Cure sound that's back, creeping in, echoing Bauhaus maybe with this real serious Peter Murphy delivery. But it's dark without being trendy techno or glitchy, I would almost say this sounds like Broken Water if those guys were more emotional, but then I can't imagine Unwound 'emotional' it's not about yelling of the delivery necessarily, it's that there's some kind of grave seriousness to this that maybe makes me think of that early goth sound. These two styles together on one single isn't something I would have expected at all, but I could easily see the possibilities for their future if they keep exploring this catchy, dark place. I miss The Organ.
Get it from Noise Pollution Records.
No comments:
Post a Comment