Oneida: Absolute II
The final part of the Thank Your Parents trilogy and, as it happens, the most challenging; quite what we’re supposed to be thanking them for isn’t clear on this uniformly dark release. The previous dispatch, 2009′s triple album Rated O, seemed to open up a new audience for Oneida; even the NME got behind them (it was listed in their albums of the year). Maybe it was this flirtation with popularity that was partly behind the direction of this latest album. Not sure this one is going to be a hit with the indie kids. Four tracks, each around 10 minutes, dominated by sparse electronic textures and, most surprisingly, no drums to be heard anywhere. Those of us used to Kid Millions’ propulsive grooves found it hard to imagine what Oneida would sound like without his drumming. This is (just about) recognisably Oneida but devoid of rhythmic impetus other than subtly throbbing drones and loops of feedback. The atmosphere is throughout crepuscular, ominous and the only appearance of a voice is in the second track, Horizons, but this is a voice distorted and fractured beyond any possibility of comprehension, denatured and baleful.
Perhaps it’s necessary to put this in the context of the trilogy as a whole, a hushed coda to the machine-like energy of what’s gone before, although, even acknowledging the wildly diverse Rated O, this collection does set itself apart from any previous work by the band. It’s not exactly the commercial suicide of Metal Machine Music, but it’s an abrasive listen by any standards. Gray Area‘s hushed synths and amp hum are rudely interrupted by shattering Swans-like guitar discords. Oneida are no strangers to extremes (Sheets of Easter was a 15 minute song constructed virtually entirely around a single chord and a single repeated word) but in a world where “extreme” is increasingly associated with a desensitising barrage of louder/faster/gorier this stasis feels more alienated and alienating, a statement of that very desensitisation.
The album starts with a track called Pre Human but the feeling is more post-human; during the closing title track a Soliloquy for Lilith-like shimmer is interrupted by shards and stabs which feel like the relics of an extinct industrial culture, a dehumanised music. Maybe the title Thank Your Parents is deeply ironic; this is the world we’ve inherited from them.
Where Oneida go next is anyone’s guess. They’ve recently been producing performances of astounding stamina (10 hours plus) so presumably there’s no shortage of material. The Thank Your Parents saga has taken them in a distinctly different direction to their previous release, the folk tinged Happy New Year. I can’t imagine this would be predictive of a new direction; it has the feel of a one-off, something the band needed to do, but I’ll be eager to follow their journey. It’s certainly been an interesting one so far.
Brett Sinclair
CAVE
Cave – ‘Neverendless’ Drag City
After their last album ‘Psychic Psummer’ appeared on Important Records Chicago’s Cave have moved over to Drag City for the release of this their third album; sticking with the same format of Sonic Youth esqe guitars, Neu! motorik beats and psych organ riffs interspersed with space synths Cave have taken this one stage further and produced this hypnotising and mesmerising masterwork. Only five tracks make up ‘Neverendless’ but reaching over 40 minutes in total with some unexpected twists and turns. ‘WUJ’ comes out like Stereolab running through some nifty echo fuelled choppy guitar riffs from Cooper Crain into Neu! style lines leading into a spacey almost jazz jam, with lots of guitar noise for the last 2 minutes of the track makes you want to nod your body and dance. Precision drumming powers ‘This Is The Best’ from a keyboard drone piece into a repetitive mantra only Oneida could compete with. ‘Adam Roberts’ is cosmic with outer-space grooves and goes through a number of keyboards shifts before drifting out with the same drone it started with. ’On The Rise’ has some beautiful bass and guitar interplay and closer ‘OJ’ sees Cave bouncing Rotten Milk’s keyboard lines alongside the Dan Browning’s fuzz bass and Rex McMurry’s motorik beat.
‘Neverendless’ is a stimulating and mesmerising listen and one album I didn’t want to end. Cave have defined their sound and produced something wild, precise and somewhat satisfying. After seeing Cave play some of these songs live I’m glad to hear the results of their work, especially with ‘WUJ’ and “On The Rise’ being my live favourites from last year. However, I still think they have their masterpiece inside them, this is close though.
9/10 Jason Stoll