Genre: experimental rock,
instrumental rock, post-rock
San Diego, CA
November 2009
It took me a long time
to ease into the final instalment of Aspects of Physics'
Marginalized Information Forms trilogy. Combining the
programming work of Jason Soars and JFRE "robot" Coad
with Rob Crow's distinct guitar lines and a whole bevy of
percussive contributors, the band's output is a distinct set of
highly-organized post-rock compositions, melodic and intricate in
their way yet something that takes getting accustomed to.
Firstly, it took me
awhile to figure out that this record needs to be played loud. If
played at dim volume, these songs take on the appearance of bland
background music; one needs to really feel the band's
dynamics in order to appreciate them. You need to absorb the sound
of the drums pumping and scattering, you need to become enveloped by
the pleading synthesizers and mesmeric chord progressions of "Level
3."
But the second
ingredient is a more passive one. Marginalized Information Forms
takes patience. Like the band's former incarnation, Physics,
this is a different sort of Rob Crow-associated project. This lacks
the immediacy of his solo material, his work with Pinback,
Heavy Vegetable, Thingy, or even The Ladies. Rob
Crow isn't even the main conspirator - although his guitar lines are
unmistakeable, it is the percussion and digital programming that
forms the essential exoskeleton of these compositions. These are the
elements that imbue "Unwindings Are Sound" with its vigor (though
Crow provides essential melodic complexity), and its the percussive
structure that allows "That Which Resists" to reach epic heights. Of
course, this music wouldn't be complete without its lead guitarist
(imagine the brilliant urgency of album-best "Psyklur" without its
cascade of assured guitar chords), but the songs aren't completely
powered by Crow's musical sense, as projects like Pinback and Heavy
Vegetable have been.
Marginalized
Information Forms number three is, admittedly, a difficult
record to get into. The rhythms and melodies are there from the
get-go, but they take awhile to absorb you. Yet despite all its
repetition, and its preference for slow- rather than rapid-builds,
this album is never cloying and consistently vibrant.
