Electrelane - Axes
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CD Details
Artist: ElectrelaneEdition: Music CD
Format: Live
CD Release Date: 2005-05-16
Music Label: Too Pure / Beggars
Soundtracks:
- One, Two, Three, Lots
- Bells
- Two For Joy
- If Not Now, When?
- Eight Steps
- Gone Darker
- Atom's Tomb
- Business or Otherwise
- Those Pockets Are People
- The Partisan
- I Keep Losing Heart
- Come Back
- Suitcase
Music reviews of Axes
Music Review: Strong effort, more experimental yet even more bracing
Rating: 4 Stars
This is more experimental, locked into grooves and extended noise-rock, with less accessibility than on "The Power Out." While nothing leaps out on the new CD as did the choir-based Valleys or the rambuctious Take the Bit Between Your Teeth, as a whole, "Axes" feels more cohesive, more of a whole package designed to convey a serious committment to constructing blocks of sound that move and shift. Heady music, rather intellectual, yet not as austere as those too enamored of art-rock and free-jazz influences would have it. The assured, sometimes perky, often cautionary vocals prevent this from being all theory and no practice. The contrasts between the sunnier style of the words and the serious tone of the lyrics makes for an intriguing contrast, and keeps the right balance between artistic intent and popular reception. The group reminds me of a similarly eclectic ensemble a decade ago, NYC's Run On, who married the avant-garde and no-wave traditions with indie-rock directions and concise song lengths. Still a rather young band in age, Electrelane should be able to continue the path they have blazed over the past half-dozen years, and I look forward to their opening up of more connections between krautrock, NYC-inspired guitar-based orchestration, English eccentricity, and Continental ambiance.
Why this did not earn a perfect score was due to the album's mid-point nadir, Business or Otherwise, which is too loose, too wonky, and too indulgent in its lazier assembly of what in the other songs has benefited from a tighter composition, unified methods, and propulsive direction. This track halfway may have been placed to break the mood of what may have otherwise been too similar sounding an album, but while the intent is understandable, the variety of this track fails to grab the listener in the same way as the more energetic and better arranged pieces do. Steve Albini's dry and precise recording techniques work well for the band, although as on many of his indie-band productions, the results may be a bit off-putting for those wanting a lusher soundscape.
If you like this, a B-sides/live/demo collection appeared in mid-2006 that continues in this vein, hearkening back to the turn of the century and the early free-flowing nature of the band's instrumentals, moving into a more mainstream (if only by comparison) approach, and then heading off, as does this CD, into areas on both CDs like versions of The Partisan which show the band's ability to combine a message with a pulse. This is a welcome band, with intelligent music that neither falls into the pomposity of prog nor the whimsy of pop. Somehow, it manages to be firm yet not forbidding, a series of structures that tower once assembled as if to march and clatter past those watchers less able to create these massive models of moving sound. Still, we can stand and listen to them as they rumble past us.
Description of Axes
The third album from this Brighton, England band draws on elements of their previous work, but develops them further. The result is their most assured work to date with soaring melodies and irresistible grooves. Includes a version of Leonard Cohen's "The Partisan", featured in the group's live shows. Look for them on tour with label mate Scout Niblett this spring.General CDs
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