Electrorash

My recent posts seem to be more and more making a lie of the name of this blog. But I’m kind of in a rut of late, as far as electro goes. Too much repetition, too many clamouring unknowns, too few wonderful, exciting slabs of new dance music. Times like this I begin to miss vinyl, and the in-built vetting process that came with narrowly defined and competitive labels doing the releasing. Then again, I don’t miss having to pay around $20 for every new tune I craved… But I digress.

As a result, my attention has been wandering across the rest of the musical expanse; dubstep, minimal, tech, ambient, breaks and, increasingly, indie rock. I kinda discarded indie rock out of hand last year, swept up as I was in the intoxication of my first glances with the electro sound. The whole idea of standing around awkwardly, listening to a band when you could be dancing like a maniac and drinking heavily seemed kind of unappealing. Still does, to a certain extent, but I’ve certainly found myself coming back to ‘indie’ music more and more in recent months. I just find it a more comprehensive life soundtrack really. Amorphous definition notwithstanding.

Which, in a long, circuitous and no doubt self indulgent way, brings us to Wolf Parade. You may remember their excellent 2005 debut ‘Apologies to the Queen Mary’. I do, but in the folly of my youth I was initially a little bemused by it all. It took more than a year until I really started to appreciate the album, but once it settled, it became easy to see exactly why everybody lost their shit for it in the first place. Although it’s been three years since ‘Apologies…’ neither Spencer Krug nor Dan Boeckner (the apparent creative impulses behind Wolf Parade) have been idle, each pursuing side projects with reasonable vigour, most noticeably Krug’s acclaimed Sunset Rubdown. As a result ‘At Mount Zoomer’ hardly feels like a “second album”, so much as a reunification of Wolf Parade’s semi-distinct components, both more weathered and experienced for their time apart.

So, how is it? Well, it’s definitely Wolf Parade. Which may sound fatuous, but if you’re familiar with their sound, then you’re not about to be assaulted by any ill-advised sophomoric experimentation. Not to say it sounds identical to the original – the production on ‘Zoomer’ is far more textured and polished for one – but rather, if you liked them three years ago, the basic elements remain the same. The wonky keyboards, the pounding percussion and Krug’s distinctive yelp are all in evidence. I’m sure the lyrics are semi-profound as well, but I can never bring myself to really focus on lyrics, so we’ll ignore them for the moment. Because that’s the kind of sophisticated music journalism you’re dealing with.

It does feel like some of the more abrasive edges of ‘Apologies’ have been honed back, which is possibly both the best and worst thing about it really. It all sounds more polished and aurally sophisticated, but at the same time this gives ‘Zoomer’ a sense of (relative) refinement which goes against the air of rawness and rampant innovation which seemed to attend to their first offering. Still, such criticism is simple conjecture on what I’d nevertheless declare to be one of the better, and more listenable indie rock offerings to emerge so far this year. There’s an impassioned core to Wolf Parade that gives their music a softness that the instrumentation itself wouldn’t seem to suggest. Despite the often manic amounts of energy that seem to fortify their songs, they linger in your ears without ever seeming to have made it there by force. Yes sir, Wolf Parade are the kind of band to revive your faith in the power of guitar and drums.

As a sampler I’ve attached ‘California Dreamer’, which may be the most enervating rock song I’ve heard since Interpol’s ‘Not Even Jail’, and ‘Fine Young Cannibals’, an oddball new wave homage done Krug style. As all things should be. Listen, enjoy and set aside a few moments and monies to buy ‘At Mount Zoomer’, which is out on Sub Pop on the 17th of June. It’ll be well worth your while, I assure you.

Wolf Parade – California Dreamer

Wolf Parade – Fine Young Cannibals

-luke