Conifer Rock

Exploded Views (02.09, Squareroot)

Byline: Marriage between guitars and drum machines. Legalize it!

For: The Sea and Cake, NEU!, Kode 9

Somewhere, in an abandoned laboratory or military establishment, a drum machine is spitting out fractured beats in code. Somewhere in Michigan is a kid playing jagged post-punk riffs and fuzzed out guitar drones while softly singing into a 4-track recording machine. These two meet up and... An unlikely romance a la Harold and Maude? The romantic comedy hit of the summer? Or a new record by Conifer Rock? Conifer Rock A.K.A Trevor Edmunds (why can't his name really be Conifer Rock?) is the sum of several different parts, that in theory sound irreconcilable, but in practice sound completely natural. Guitars in Exploded Views take a prominent role, from the staccato, Bow-Wow-Wow influenced, start-stop strumming in "Young Professionals" to the Can inspired freak out of the opener "Sure Fire". The album's closing track, "Rocket Pops", has a guitar drone that does it for me every time. It sounds like Wylde Wyzards backing Kevin Drew, a magical last song that I find myself coming back to over and over. The percussion ranges from the metronomical, Motorik percussion of electronic pioneers NEU! and Kraftwerk to the cut-up patchwork of todays dubstep. Edmunds breathy voice recalls Chicago's own Sam Prekop, who like Edmunds has a voice that is once instantly recognizable but never demands center stage. Pile on a generous amount of Shoegazey effects pedals and heavy synths and you have a marriage made in heaven. Exploded Views is confidently steered in the hands of Conifer Rock as he switches his style up from one track to the next, and if they hate then let 'em hate and let the praises from music blogs pile up.

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Centre

Another Year/L'Enfant Coma (04.09, Square Root)

Byline: Autechre Remixing Joy Division

For: New Order, Antarctica, Autechre

I just kind of gave away the punch line and the climax in the part of the review that is supposed to be a teaser, piquing interest just enough to read below. If Autechre remixing Joy Division sound pretty rad just stop here, my thoughts don't go much beyond that. But the fact of the matter is, something sounding like Autechre remixing Joy Division is pretty rad! All the songs on both EPs seem to be centred around the central theme of the second track "Take it or leave it". Pulsing synths mixed with head banging dub both prop up and skitter in and out of the track leaving space for a killer guitar lick that permeates the entire record. McKinney's monotone voice is muddled somewhere in the mix as if the ghost of Peter Murphy was trapped inside a sequencer. The persistent guitar overlay with liberal use of delay and fuzzed out high register bass recall the guitar work of Swervedriver or Slowdive, and the monotone uniformity is reminiscent of Ian Curtis's iconic drollness. Far from being a languished post-goth album Another Year/L' Enfant Coma has a very human emotional centre that hold everything contained within its robotic heart. The rest of the songs of the EPs are fantastic but very much in the same vein. Either more guitars or less synths, less guitars more synths. Centre is a charming accompaniment to a mood that requires something steady, restrained and intensely focused. Like building a bookcase. Or fixing a bike tire.

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