Julia Conny
06/09/09, 03:46 PM
So Many Dynamos - The Loud Wars
Record Label: Vagrant Records
Release Date: June 9th
Yeah, I'm all about The Dismemberment Plan, but let's not be naive here. These young kids - they straight up don't know the history. They don't know how crucially AWESOME Q and Not You were or why Les Savy Fav is more a romper than your devil crunkcore. They don't get it. And for that, they'll only maybe barely GET So Many Dynamos and their third record (and first for Vagrant Records), The Loud Wars, but there's a small chance. For a band whose main cakewalk operates in a game that's mathy post-punk lathered with technical, frisky guitar, electronic quirk and bursting melodies, The Loud Wars goes down as sweet as a juice box.
OK, maybe sweet isn't the best descriptor. But on The Loud Wars, the bobs and pounces are still slick to the touch. Every last bit of the album pulsates, breathes even, down to the crisp, fluid guitar leads, vibrating beef of the keyboard and juiced-up bass lines, and easily excitable percussion. The Loud Wars acts quickly. The first track, "Artifacts of Sound" jumps in with tumbles of bass drum and stringy pairs of guitar leads and key tones. It's the way of most of The Loud Wars, and we're told this within the first busy bee seconds of the album: things are going to be chaotic. As the album spins on, when you start to feel that dizzy spell, or when you think the chaos is a Tilt-A-Whirl teetering on loose screws, ready for a carnival slaughter, suck it up. On The Loud Wars, So Many Dynamos are in check with every note and every shift they produce. Their swirling discord never loses sight of its path of destination, and this is more impressive than their ability to craft clever and catchy from tunes that are musically enrolled in the 400 level classes.
This surely is due in part to Death Cab For Cutie's Chris Walla, who lends his producer credits and tells the world that he's a big So Many Dynamos fan. Not a bad bragging point for the band. Flashlights, the bands previous full-length, recreates a live sound and gave a bright bright spotlight to the energy that SMD can deliver. Even Pitchfork liked it. But Walla, realizing the band's biggest strength, gives more detail and focus to the high-concentrate technical axe flair and fresh-cut electronics, which in turn, lets each song on The Loud Wars blaze by at least a few burning suns.
Singing, but mostly chanting, shouting or a combo of both, Aaron Stovall is a chatterbox and one that sounds a lot like Travis Morrison. In curt spews, he tosses out awesome nonsense about lame-ass parties ("Artifacts of Sound"), craving and using ("Keep It Simple"), or the novelty of haunting (It's been over a year now/and the novelty of haunting has worn off... want to see my friends now/I don't want to be a creep - "The Novelty of Haunting"). Parallel to the speed and chaos, Stovall lets his voice carry with the texture of the moment. For example, on "New Bones", a pattern of snappish, concise bits of samples and snare, Stovall maintains the same pattern for the entire track.
And in all these aspects The Loud Wars are perched for a killing, but it's easy to like even without the over-analyze. Their representation of what happens when math meets dance class has itself been well-represented by others, but So Many Dynamos might just be better at reeling in new students.
Q and Not U, The Dismemberment Plan, We Versus The Shark, Jawbox, Pattern Is Movement, Maps & AtlasesMyspace (http://www.myspace.com/somanydynamos) | iTunes (http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=318570516&s=143441) | Vagrant Records (http://www.vagrant.com/artist/index/53)
Record Label: Vagrant Records
Release Date: June 9th
Yeah, I'm all about The Dismemberment Plan, but let's not be naive here. These young kids - they straight up don't know the history. They don't know how crucially AWESOME Q and Not You were or why Les Savy Fav is more a romper than your devil crunkcore. They don't get it. And for that, they'll only maybe barely GET So Many Dynamos and their third record (and first for Vagrant Records), The Loud Wars, but there's a small chance. For a band whose main cakewalk operates in a game that's mathy post-punk lathered with technical, frisky guitar, electronic quirk and bursting melodies, The Loud Wars goes down as sweet as a juice box.
OK, maybe sweet isn't the best descriptor. But on The Loud Wars, the bobs and pounces are still slick to the touch. Every last bit of the album pulsates, breathes even, down to the crisp, fluid guitar leads, vibrating beef of the keyboard and juiced-up bass lines, and easily excitable percussion. The Loud Wars acts quickly. The first track, "Artifacts of Sound" jumps in with tumbles of bass drum and stringy pairs of guitar leads and key tones. It's the way of most of The Loud Wars, and we're told this within the first busy bee seconds of the album: things are going to be chaotic. As the album spins on, when you start to feel that dizzy spell, or when you think the chaos is a Tilt-A-Whirl teetering on loose screws, ready for a carnival slaughter, suck it up. On The Loud Wars, So Many Dynamos are in check with every note and every shift they produce. Their swirling discord never loses sight of its path of destination, and this is more impressive than their ability to craft clever and catchy from tunes that are musically enrolled in the 400 level classes.
This surely is due in part to Death Cab For Cutie's Chris Walla, who lends his producer credits and tells the world that he's a big So Many Dynamos fan. Not a bad bragging point for the band. Flashlights, the bands previous full-length, recreates a live sound and gave a bright bright spotlight to the energy that SMD can deliver. Even Pitchfork liked it. But Walla, realizing the band's biggest strength, gives more detail and focus to the high-concentrate technical axe flair and fresh-cut electronics, which in turn, lets each song on The Loud Wars blaze by at least a few burning suns.
Singing, but mostly chanting, shouting or a combo of both, Aaron Stovall is a chatterbox and one that sounds a lot like Travis Morrison. In curt spews, he tosses out awesome nonsense about lame-ass parties ("Artifacts of Sound"), craving and using ("Keep It Simple"), or the novelty of haunting (It's been over a year now/and the novelty of haunting has worn off... want to see my friends now/I don't want to be a creep - "The Novelty of Haunting"). Parallel to the speed and chaos, Stovall lets his voice carry with the texture of the moment. For example, on "New Bones", a pattern of snappish, concise bits of samples and snare, Stovall maintains the same pattern for the entire track.
And in all these aspects The Loud Wars are perched for a killing, but it's easy to like even without the over-analyze. Their representation of what happens when math meets dance class has itself been well-represented by others, but So Many Dynamos might just be better at reeling in new students.
Q and Not U, The Dismemberment Plan, We Versus The Shark, Jawbox, Pattern Is Movement, Maps & AtlasesMyspace (http://www.myspace.com/somanydynamos) | iTunes (http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=318570516&s=143441) | Vagrant Records (http://www.vagrant.com/artist/index/53)