New Music: The Berg Sans Nipple, Rob Crow, Six Parts Seven

The Berg Sans Nipple - Mystic Song (mp3) - Along the Quai (Team Love 2006)

The Berg Sans Nipple – Along the Quai / Team Love

I guess I should start out by saying how impressed I am with Team Love for the heads-up with releasing this album and snatching a multi-faceted artist like The Berg Sans Nipple to diversify their roster. No doubt that Shane Aspegren, one-half of the duo, being from Nebraska has something to do with that and the fact that between the two of them, they have worked with the likes of Bright Eyes, Songs: Ohia, Purr and other artists of that Omaha-sound nature. But go ahead and forget any previous connotations you may have with that scene, because Along the Quai isn’t going to fit in that category. Rounded out with Parisian Lori Sean Berg, The Berg Sans Nipple in essence creates a very distorted rendition of electro-pop, but the percussionists involved appear to have a worldly knowledge of rhythm and melodies. Take the Junior Boys, toss them into The Octopus Project’s garage of strategically broken instruments and let them jam with a couple of the Konono Nº1 boys and you start to get an idea of the sound we’re dealing with here. The biggest difference-maker between TBSN and the rest of the electro-poppers is their ability to step away from the computers for a moment and jam on some live instrumentation. Glockenspiel twinkling over fuzzy electric pianos, junkyard steel pans jamming with plodding floor drums, synthesizers dueling thumb pianos, something called a Moroccan assdrum, it’s all here and playfully interacting. I’m a bit partial to the vocal-less tracks, but Aspergren’s muffled Ben Gibbard croon could definitely be worse; I just question their necessity. Along the Quai has the structure of an electro-pop album, but it sends the genre in a much-needed wayfaring direction. Being on Team Love, I’m not sure who will actually be the demographic seeking this out, but just maybe, it will widen the tastes of a few kids still engrossed solely in the Omaha-sound.







Rob Crow - Up (mp3) - Living Well (Temporary Residence 2007)

Rob Crow – Living Well / Temporary Residence

Rob Crow has been noodling around the independent music scene for about 15 years now, and all the while pushing the boundaries of pop and rock music by forming numerous genre-defying bands, each of which with wonderfully ridiculous names (Thingy, Goblin Cock, Optiganally Yours, etc). His most recent projects include the wide-spread catchiness of Pinback and his noise-pop outbursts with Zach Hill as The Ladies, both of which are quickly defining Crow's matured sound. Needing a bit of a break from the constant demand of his many bands, Crow decided to take a hiatus… oh wait, actually he recorded another album. Living Well, his third full-length solo album, seems the result of a hearty step back to slow down and breath in the full realization of getting married, having a child and, at it's most basic level, growing up, all of which seemingly took the prolific musician by storm in the last year. Utilizing a stripped down Pinback sound, Crow coos his trademark humming alto over the bright, canonic guitar patterns that makes his music so catchy in quick, almost-off-the-cuff 3-minute songs. In an interesting what-the-fuck moment, during the album's hilariously named single (I know it’s the single because the CD also includes an extended single mix), 'I Hate You, Rob Crow', his voice drifts into Chris Cornell territory, which is a bit terrifying in itself, but also because it sends me into flashbacks to my high school days in the mid 90s. Certainly his most restrained outing to-date, Living Well will probably not appeal to fans solely of his more eccentric projects, but will no doubt hook starved Pinback fans for good. Personally, I'm a bit torn; I drift more towards his unconventional music, but I can appreciate the man realizing and embracing his sound, and current-state-of-life in the process.






Six Parts Seven - Stolen Moments (mp3) - Casually Smashed to Pieces (Suicide Squeeze 2007)

Six Parts Seven – Casually Smashed to Pieces / Suicide Squeeze

Kent, Ohio's favorite pastoral post-rock band has turned a new leaf, just check out the massive Viking stalking the album cover. that's right, Six Parts Seven have gone doom metal! Okay okay, maybe not, but just the possibility of some kid looking for a new Dio album and grabbing this instead sends me into a wonderful fit of giggles. Now stripped back to a quartet, the Karpinski brothers and friends have stirred up a new set of unobtrusive meandering post-rock tunes featuring their now trademark array of heart-melting melodies. The twangy undercurrent and horn garnishing that was hinted on their last few releases continues to find an increased role on this album along with tinges of banjo, lap-steel, clarinet and the always-fun whistling. The musicianship as usual is outstanding and the instrumental interplay is a thing of beauty, guitars smoothly weave, the bass pads caringly, the drums accentuate with nuance and everything else adds a welcomed shade of color. Like all Six Part Seven records to date, Casually Smashed to Pieces is not overtly exciting or unpredictable; instead, it's a comfortable enveloping atmosphere, a warm textural haze that is meant to droop gently on to your ears and provide a momentary escape from the regular chaotic noises of the world.