I said a bunch of nice stuff about the band Earthsuit when I reviewed an EP by Mute Math, an offshoot of that band, last year. I'm not about to go and recap it all again here. We'll just say that Earthsuit was friggin' awesome, and I could think of no better result of their breaking up than the creation of two almost equally awesome bands in their wake.
So, with the obligatory back story out of the way, allow me to introduce you to Macrosick, arguably the more manic and mysterious of the two offshoot bands. Mute Math definitely had a knack for being danceable and catchy, so it's not like they were a bore or anything, but to go from their more easygoing, faith-affirming lyrics to Macrosick's more subversive, cheeky style, complete with an amount of frentic studio tinkering that throws the gauntlet back at their old bandmates, can be a bit of a shock, even for those who were used to the two personalities that Earthsuit seemed to have. (Not to imply that these factions are at war or anything. The split was amicable, even beneficial, due to the realization that lead singers Adam LaClave and Paul Meany were writing drastically different types of songs.) If Mute Math is music you put on to chill and get into a worshipful mood, then Macrosick is your soundtrack to getting downright ticked off about all of the complacency found in modern Christian culture. At least, I think that's what most of it's about. Amidst a maze of urgent, raspy vocals, hyper-speed drumming, chopped-up-and-spit-out sounds, and quirky lyrics, it's easy to get lost. One minute there's a love song, then a Devo cover, and hey lookie here, it's an ambient instrumental! Escapades which wouldn't work for a lot of bands, no doubt, but Macrosick is one of those groups that is seemingly determined to make unabashed hookiness and higher artistic aspirations cooperate with each other.
This approach, as seen on their debut EP Demodisk, can get a bit of a head-scratching reaction from me at times, but it's highly entertaining, and just like with Mute Math, I can't wait for a full length. That not being available yet, I'll give you a look at what this little teaser's got to offer.
Under These Skies
You're not around so I wrote this letter
I hope you'll respond with some recourse action
Time is flying, waiting for no one
Futures moving to the speed of life...
Going for the throat immediately with a power pop approach, Macrosick decides to center their lead song around a jerky start-stop guitar rhythm that gives way to a purposefully tuneless spoken verse, with only a few electronic bleeps amidst the lively drums to give us a clue what key we're in. Adam LaClave sounds about 10 times as animated despite the deadpan vocal - don't ask me how that works, but it does. And despite all the noise and urgent banging of percussion, they've actually got sort of a love song vibe going on here, trying to comfort someone and tell them not to cry. It's a familiar theme of wanting to see someone again and get over whatever caused the separation, but hearing it in this musical context adds a strange sense of irony to the sweetness of it. Listen for a brief, slightly loungey, Earthsuit-style vocal breakdown in the middle before the otherwise rigid rhythm kicks in again.
Beautiful World
Boy and girl with the new clothes on
You can shake it to me all night long...
So I had this Earthsuit poster on my office wall many years ago, and a guy passing by asked me about them and noted that they "looked like a new age Devo". Well, that was no coincidence, since Devo was apparently a major influence on their rap/rock/pop/reggae concoction, and here, Macrosick carries that torch by putting their own stamp on a Devo cover. Truth be told, it's a bit of a strange fit at first, because the keyboards and lighter percussion seem to back off a bit from Macrosick's usual style. But I'll give Adam credit, he's got the dopey vocal mannerisms down, and that somehow makes the insipidly happy lyrics about how "It's a beautiful world for you" easier to swallow. Interestingly, the song doesn't actually seem like it's as happy as it sounds - you'd expect "It's a beautiful world for you and me", but instead you get, "It's a beautiful world for you, not me". Knowing nothing about the original, I can't say if they pulled some sort of a lyric change, but I'd most likely assume this was the way Devo did it, too. Anyway, their Devo-tion (yuk, yuk) pays off in much the same way that an 80's cover by The Echoing Green usually does - namely, I don't hate it, despite the era it came from.
Cash Machine
While burning shells rain from an angry sky
like pick-up sticks to the floor
We go to sleep in America
'Cause all we have is a lot...
Bleeding in slowly and forebodingly, this turns out to be one of the most dark and vicious tracks on the EP. Adam has a bit of a disgusted moan to his raspy singing, and the whole song is really a sharp indictment of consumer culture, targeting American Christians for basically being lazy punks and assuming they don't have to care about anyone else. The chorus is actually quite smooth in comparison to the morbid-sounding verses, giving us a little of the crooning style that we got used to when Adam sang for Earthsuit. From there, things become a little more diffuse as voices mutter during the bridge: "Kings and priests, aliens and strangers, socialist pigs, capitalist power rangers... wash your hands". They use some interesting chopped-up vocal effects toward the end, too, and the overall result is a truly haunting song.
We Never Started
Remember the time we died in the garden
We ate from the tree and ran with our pardon...
The band goes back into catchy mode for what might just be the most melodic of the original songs on this disc. A retro drum beat and munched-up, filtered guitars provide the song's basic rhythm, with a lighter-than-air synth line flirting about during the chorus. Adam is in more of a wistful mode here, asking us to "Remember the time we died in the garden", and then later telling us that none of it really happened. He's viewing humanity allegorically here, putting us in the shoes of Adam and Eve, the people originally responsible for sin, and then basically saying that God's memory of this has been wiped clean. I think there's a toy piano or xylophone in there somewhere - I love how even during the straightforward songs, the band gives us some unexpected sounds to contend with.
Nothing's on the Radio
Cars drive by tonight
They're singing songs of nothing, make them want to revolt
Infuse art onto the play list
Repetition gets the people annoyed...
I remember making the comment on Earthsuit's song "Wheel" that it sounded like the band was so full of energy that they could run off the stage at you any minute. (OK, so a friend came up with that observation, actually. I stole it.) If I could say that about that song, then this song must be a freakin' heat-seeking missle, because it's just got of-the-wall fast percussion, rumbling bass underneath, and blippy little computer effects underneath that remain blissfully aware of all the tulult. Meanwhile, Adam gives one of his most ear-piercing performances as he shouts during the verses (and believe me, it'll just leap right out of the speakers at you) about how the radio is utterly boring and inoffensive and they want to invade the playlist and inject some life back into it. Yeah, not gonna happen with a song like this, guys. But that's not an insult aimed at Macrosick, because this is just a darn cool song, with a speed-of-light chorus which almost guarantees that any act to dance along with it will end up looking like an epileptic seizure.
Nice Hush
Yeah, I think a lot of folks are going to need a nice hush after that last number - it's pretty insane. The band does a total 180 here, relying entirely on electronics for a lush, ambient piece that features the same 5 synthesized notes, repeating in rhythm like some sort of a bubbling, liquid transmission being sent into space (I know, radio signals aren't liquid, but allow me some abstraction here!) 3 minutes of this might be a bit much, but hey, it's pretty.
Jerkweed Inspector
He's renting flowers for the mothers of his menace state
But don't you eat them, they will steal your tongue without a taste
And he will quickly find you if you fail to registrate...
In a move that shouldn't surprise us at this point, the group saves their most absurd tune for last. Musically, there's not much farther to go beyond "Nothing's on the Radio" in terms of frenetic musical insanity, unless they want to start abandoning structure and hook value, which I think would go against the ethos of this particular band. But lyrically, nonsense certainly fits in well with their personality. And this tumbling, beat-driven song chronicles the escapades of an annoying detective type who get some sort of glee out of catching you doing something wrong. Try not to read too much into it - I mean, if the guy has a "porkchop style" and he's into "fishtailing for fun" and the band is making up words like "registrate", obviously meaning is not the main objective here. (Though this will seem tame if you're a fan of The Fiery Furnaces, but I digress.) Once again, we have deadpan spoken verses that are interspersed with a gleeful cry of "Jerkweed Inspector!", almost as if it were some sort of a mock salute to an auditor who just wrote you up or something. The band makes interesting use of sampling here, taking what sounds like radio noises and vocal snippets and distributing the junk throughout the song as they see fit. An odd note to end on, but this is actually their most ingenious song, I think.
I have no idea what these guys would come up with for a full-length album, or whether very many people would have the wherewithal to actually try and digest it. But who cares what the general public when it's this much fun for me to listen to? That's right labels, you've got one guaranteed buyer. Not much of a financial promise, but who cares, follow your conscience and sign this band post haste!
That's all. I've clearly gotten a bit hyper over Macrosick, and I should probably go chill out to some Mute Math or something. This split personality deal is really working for Earthsuit, isn't it?
OVERALL WORTH:
Under These Skies $1.50
Beautiful World $1
Cash Machine $1.50
We Never Started $1.50
Nothing's on the Radio $2
Nice Hush $.50
Jerkweed Inspector $2
TOTAL: $10
Band Members:
Adam LaClave
Paul Meany
Darren King
B-Face Watkins
Greg Hill
Jonathan Odom
Websites:
http://www.macrosick.com (official)
http://www.macrofaction.com (fan site with free mp3's!)
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