Black
Dice have finally made their first dance album. Now they’ve been flirting with
dance music for a while, since Broken Ear Record. Sure this is a rather warped
take on the genre, but what else is to be expected. Dance music is a
particularly welcoming genre itself, so it doesn’t surprise me that they’ve
taken this route. Besides, after a compilation (Load Blown) and a rather
unsatisfying last effort (Repo) they’ve finally made a return to form.
Eric
Copeland’s presence is heavily felt throughout the album. Unlike previous Black
Dice albums, this makes a greater use of repetition. It’s still far, far away
from anything approximating normal pop music. Yet there’s nearly a recognizable
structure beneath all these loops. For Black Dice, this is something of a
revolution. Coherence in a Black Dice record is a rare thing indeed. What’s
more interesting is how things called ‘riffs’ appear to form. They aren’t riffs
in the conventional since, but it still shows a certain stylistic change
towards a more accessible format.
‘The
Jacker’ reminds me of Oneida. There’s a psychedelic vibe to the whole
possession. It blasts way through endless gunk-filled filters. Some guy is
shouting random nonsense at the top of his lungs. ‘Pigs’, the single off the
album, makes sense given the mood of the rest of the album. ‘Spy vs. Spy’
reminds me of Andy Stott’s work. Yes, it seems that rather than meet the rest
of the world, the rest of the world has met Black Dice’s demands.
My
favorite piece is the drunken, insane piece of ‘Outer Body Drifter’. This is so
much fun. Boredoms come to mind as I hear the mid-section break down, random
noises, and the unusual funk of the whole thing. No matter how many noises they
layer on top of it, it’s still a complete and total blast of a song.
This is
the most accessible thing Black Dice has ever done. After so many years Black
Dice has finally decided to leave the noise moniker behind and embrace the
gloopy sounds it has always loved. I dig ‘Mr. Impossible’ a lot.
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