| Named after the cut-and-paste command frequently used by the band while writing songs on the computer, Command V debuts with an album that combines the aesthetic vision of 1980s NYC no-wave and modern electronica. The no-wave connection is not coincidental, since the trio includes Cynthia Sley, the singer for NYC's legendary Bush Tetras, and Pat Irwin, formerly of the Raybeats and Lydia Lunch's Eight-Eyed Spy. (The trio is rounded out by the presence of filmmaker Rachel Dengiz, who has worked with Jim Jarmusch and Steve Buscemi.) The album's fourteen tracks embrace no-wave's minimalism and brevity, but replace the genre's discordant screech with spaced-out electronica. The Bush Tetras were always one of the most listenable no-wave bands, and their penchant for funked-up dance rhythms continues on this album; from the hypnotic opener "Hello," it's obvious that the band wants people to move to their music. Catchy rhythms meet ethereal electronics on tracks like "Brown Dove" and "Are We There Yet," and many of the bass-heavy tracks like "Holidays" creep up into the territory of dubstep; but there are also quieter tracks like "The Scene" and "Lost On Me" that are closer to chill wave, drawing equally from ambient, jazz, and trip-hop, and despite the uncluttered simplicity of the songs, their inventive use of electronic textures and trance-like beats results in a surprising level of diversity among the songs. As an added bonus, Sley's instantly recognizable deadpan vocals have evolved, more closely resembling actual singing now but without sacrificing the unique and indescribable character that always made her voice so interesting in the first place. This is a great album -- all the more so because it appears to have popped up from out of nowhere, so many years after the original no-wave scene -- that does an excellent job of building on the past roots of the band members in a completely modern context. It's also compulsively listenable, the kind of album you can play over and over, even more of a rarity now than it was when Sley and Irwin first showed up on the NYC scene. Essential listening. - One True Dead Angel |
