NO-CORE blog

Amoeba Men "Worried About Your Wiring?"

This album kinda kicks ass. I’ve listened to it about 4 times today and I think I’m going to play it again now! You know, when I first heard this, I had put it into a playlist of some new and old music. The Ex-Models were playing and I was thinking the following: When the Ex-Models guys were around I dug them but kind of took them for granted. Another “spazzy” Brooklyn band doing that post-punk sound. About that time everyone wanted to sound like that first Liars album so it seemed like there was plenty of that going around. (Ex-Models were way better than the Liars though) But now I just recently tortured myself by listening to all of the buzz-worthy indie bands of today and let me tell ya, how that made me appreciate them! “Where, oh where have all the high-energy, spazzy post-punk bands gone, and can we PLEASE get them back now?”

Next up in the play list? AMOEBA MEN come out of the gate swinging with a “One, Two, Blackout!” – EXACTLY what I was looking for! Every song sounds like they are jacked on caffeine and flipping out. Dense, rapid-fire drums, jittery buzzing synths, scathing guitar attack, and yelped out vocals. They’re not as mathematically precise as the Ex-Models, but all the herky-jerky energy is there. There’s also some new-wave oddball flavor, particularly coming from the keyboard and vocal delivery – almost a DEVO or, heck, even an Oingo Boingo vibe. But where Oingo Boingo or theatrical bands like them can come across a little self-consciously “aren’t we soooo arty and weird?” the main purpose of the Amoeba Men would seem to be to ROCK OUT. I’d also compare them to the Silver Daggers who share their focused but raw, rock’em sock’em vibe.

So these Amoeba Men are another Richmond, VA band featuring Mr. Jason Hodges, and I know I keep talking about his projects but hey, if you want to form a half-dozen killer bands and send me a new awesome album every month then maybe I’ll keep talking about you too. One of the most amazing things about this album? It was given away free! You can still get it too. Just follow this link, click the “download” link on the page you get to, and I think you need to add a “.zip” extension to the file you download.

http://cnproachmotel.blogspot.com/2010/08/amoeba-men-worried-about-your-wiring-cd.html

Be sure to leave a comment and thank them! I also found this 51-second YouTube clip of the Amoeba Men in action to give you a taste. Check it out.

Update: You know who else the Amoeba Men sound sort of like? Dazzling Killmen! Really!

Stellar 30 minute tape from Richmond, Virginia’s Gameboy-freakout noise artist Brian Blomerth, aka Narwhalz. Having heard his earlier stuff, I can tell you that this tape shows a much more evolved and refined Narwhalz.

Maybe someone reading this has seen Narwhalz perform before. This reader may wonder how I can use words like “evolved” and “refined” to describe an artist whose performances involve rolling on the floor while punching Gameboy buttons, humping Pomeranian stuffed animals, repeated “technical difficulties,” and periods of extended, rambling, semi-surrealist, self-deprecating monologues that approach a form of MySpace-culture beat poetry. Meanwhile, the music is a torrent of chaotic videogame sounds in a fast-forward jumble.

These points are noted. However, just listen to this tape. There is an ebb and flow to this chaos. Long periods (relatively) of repetitive sounds almost start to hypnotize you before things explode and insanity breaks out. Then there’s some time to catch your breath, the music settles down and starts to sound almost pretty, or Brian shares some words of wisdom before the next round. Then you start to notice that the music has the same pacing and flow as everything Brian writes, and everything he draws as well. Nothing is quite as random as it seems here. A lot of care has gone into putting the sounds on this tape together.

For another thing, unlike earlier recordings I have, this one is all at the same volume level, or at least it gets loud only when it’s supposed to get loud. I also like how the vocals are mostly obscured by distortion, letting you believe that maybe he’s screaming about some truly HARSH power electronics shit. Then there’s one very clear part where he addresses Snoopy and you realize it’s actually the same bizarre nonsense it always has been.

Bottom line, if you have seen Narwhalz and you thought it was amazing then you’ll love this tape. It edits down and distills all the best sounding stuff and most successful moments. If you saw Narwhalz and thought it was the most inane bullshit ever, this tape JUST MIGHT CHANGE YOUR MIND … maybe. Probably not. On Flish Records, nice yellow tape and full-color illustrated art.

http://www.myspace.com/narwhalsofsound
http://www.myspace.com/flishrecords