"All The Nations Airports"
This band's movement from small releases to major-label distribution turned out quite well -- like a lot of other brilliant pop bands, they managed to make their sound cleaner and more focused without compromising any of the quirks which made it interesting. It would be an oversight to talk about this album (or this band) without mentioning Pavement, Guided by Voices, and Sonic Youth -- All the Nation's Airports does a spectacular job of taking appealing melodies and hooks and slanting them into angular, off-kilter indie -- but Archers of Loaf have the skill and intelligence to never actually sound like the above-mentioned bands.
TRADUCTION: Le mouvement de ce groupe des petites sorties vers une distribution sous un label important s'est relativement bien passé -- comme beaucoup d'autres brillants groupes pop, ils ont réussi à rendre leur son plus propre et plus net sans compromettre aucun des caprices qui le rendaient intéressant. On ne pourrait pas parler de cet album (ou de ce groupe) sans mentionner Pavement, Guided By Voices et Sonic Youth -- All The Nations Airports fait le travail spectaculaire de prendre des mélodies et accroches attirantes et de les transformer en indie angulaire, hors norme -- mais les Archers Of Loaf ont l'habileté et l'intelligence de ne jamais vraiment sonner comme les groupes susmentionnés.
What verbal content you can parse might be sardonic if it carried any emotional weight at all--conned customers, security from LAX to JFK, assassination on Christmas Eve. Yet it's too croaked and wild to seem detached or even deadpan; basically what it gives off is intelligence, as a given you live with rather than a goal you achieve. The import's in croaked, wild, intelligent music that's also virtuosic, especially up against the myriad alt bands who fancy themselves players these days. The controlled discord of the four instrumentals recalls the compositional smarts of Eric Bachmann's sax-based Barry Black, but the nasty little guitar lines have Eric Johnson all over them, and bass and drums put in their two bits as well. I wish their WEA debut were more songful. But they're so set on making the most of the cognitive dissonance that is their lot that in the end I enjoy it too. A MINUS
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