Thursday, March 27, 2008

Fresh tracks

[New local CDs]

Audibles with Dan Coleman | The Scene

EDITOR’S NOTE: Here are the latest local discs to hit shelves, courtesy our semi-monthly roundup:

The Icecold Archbishop, “The Sun Dies Too”

Ever so often, a CD will show up in my mailbox that leaves me speechless. Sometimes it’s the latest disc from Miami’s self-professed drug dealer turned hustler MC Rick Ross that turns out to be 1000x better than I thought it would be. Sometimes it’s some major label tripe from the latest underage or overly emotive concoction to steal young girls’ or disgruntled suburbanites’ unearned dollars.

And sometimes it’s the Icecold Archbishop.

Icecold Archbishop is the pseudonym of Associate SPEA professor Flynn Picardal who, when not schooling young minds in the ways of environmental science, is recording music that rides the line between genius and insanity. “The Sun Dies Too” is a not what one would call an optimistic album. The songs weave tales of life in a post-apocalyptic world in which we need to horde guns, food and gold tempered with lighter ditties about soldiers’ experiences in Iraq and alien abductions resulting in mild brain damage.

While the subject matter is either depressing or confusing, Picardal has a lighthearted approach to his subject matter in content and musical accompaniment. He has a voice reminiscent of Talking Heads-era David Byrne with a Devo-esque blend of synth-pop and hard rock. The songs are amateurish and mildly sophomoric, but are handled with such aplomb that I am overwhelmed by the oddity of it all.

Picardal has a firm grasp on writing pop hooks and melodies and his musical sense of humor is a treat. Without a hint of irony, he takes all that was great about the early ‘80s new-wave/synth-rock almost revolution and adapts it to modern fears of a man-made apocalypse, pick-up lines and the friendly nature of bacteria.

The Source-jacking scale says: 4 mics

“Defunct Indiana: 17 Indie, Experimental & Hardcore Artists From Indiana’s Past”, Joyful Noise

“Defunct Indiana: 17 Indie, Experimental & Hardcore Artists From Indiana’s Past” is a compilation put together by the folks at Joyful Noise records and Musical Family Tree, chronicling the bands that pumped life into Indiana’s indie and hard rock music scenes before burning out and going their separate ways. In reaching back to Sardina, who gave up the ghost sometime in the late 90s all the way up to BIGBIGCar, who I just learned had broken up when I received this album, the compilation shows the wide range of bands, sounds and ideas that took place over the past decade. Many of these bands records saw the light of day with proper distribution on indie labels like Secretly Canadian, Joyful Noise and Standard Recordings, but for the rest this is a chance to highlight a time and a place in which they were the kings and queens of Indiana’s bars and basements.

The album is laid out in way that the hardcore sonic fury of Usurp Synapse and Lukewarm Bodies (at best) flawlessly transitions into the rolling instrumentation of Ativin and Letters in English and the pop sheen of Manners For Husbands and the aforementioned Sardina. Much like the abundance of regional funk compilations, “Defunct Indiana: 17 Indie, Experimental & Hardcore Artists From Indiana’s Past” is a welcome slice of Indiana’s indie past, shining the light on bands that are missed and some that even in their prime we underappreciated.

The Source-jacking scale: 5 mics

• posted by admin   |   filed under music   |  
Back to top

2 comments on "Fresh tracks"

  1. Rick Maxwell said on Sun 30 Mar 2008 at 10:37 am  

    Dan Coleman,
    I thought that your article on censorship was right on the money.

    I am sending you one my C.D.s. I have been a local musician for years around Bloomington. I appreciate generally, the diversity of the music. I would like to get some feedback from you on some of the things that I am trying to do with my music. The name of the project is Grope Therapy. (GROPETHERAPY). Thanks for your time and vision.

    Rick Maxwell

  2. Sim said on Mon 09 Jun 2008 at 8:11 pm  

    Mr Coleman-

    I would like a copy of GROPETHERAPY, how do I go about getting one? Thanks Sim SIx


© 1997 - 2010 the bloomington scene | HeraldTimesOnline.com. No commercial reproduction without prior written consent.
theme by brian gardner | spawned by wordPress.