 07/01/2009 NUTS AND BOLTS: Aaron With – guitar / vocals, Mark Cartwright – electronics / bass, Sam Scranton – drums / percussion
STOMPING GROUND: Chicago, Illinois, formed 2005
SET TO SOUNDTRACK: Lord above only knows
DESTINED TO UPSET: Those who like clearly defined boundaries
YOU’RE IN BUSINESS IF YOU LIKE: Dirty Projectors, Deerhoof, Whirlwind Heat, Efterklang, The Red Paintings
Volcano! aren’t an easy band to figure out. Their second album, ‘Paperwork,’ is a weird and wonky mix of post-punk, art-rock and free jazz, punctured with forays into ambient electronics. If you like your music coherent, then you’d best stop reading now, but if you want to listen to a sprawling amalgamation of squealing guitars, shotgun percussion and off-kilter melodies - which, let’s be honest, you really should - carry on...
One minute the three-piece is battering your ears into submission with out-of-tune guitar riffs, out-of-time drums and out-of-the blue electronic squawks; the next they slide into soothing moments of leftfield reprise. Any band that can combine the minimalist noise-rock of Steve Albini’s ‘Shellac,’ with melodies that sound like Ariel Pink at his prettiest, deserves your attention. After one album, which had critical plaudits raining down on the band, but popular success giving them a wide berth, Volcano! are back and leaner and tighter than before. Admittedly, it’s odd stuff, but well worthwhile for the slow-burning melodies which gradually emerge.
‘PAPERWORK’ IS OUT NOW (THE LEAF LABEL)
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