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June 20, 2005
some ghost signed this receipt
Relay - Ode to Guesswork
This song is multilayered and heavy, think of it as a sort of cubic jigsaw puzzle falling down a set of old, wooden stairs. Pieces falling off and getting put back on again; worn-down cardboard corners all frayed and soft. The guitar in 'Ode to Guesswork' works in Morse code, flashing some dots at the start, then distending itself into a more dashful language. The organ/keyboards are the real bread and butter of the track though, serving to both augment the impact of the guitar and overwhelm the pulse and inertia of the song at other points. The drums are just straight-up fantastic. 'Ode to Guesswork' has a slightly gazey feel to it, it's off-balance and swirling.
The title of this song ties into the band well, as Relay's website does not divulge a ton of info about the band itself. As far as I can tell though, the band is from Philadelphia (or environs), but beyond that, there's not much. The band does have 6 or so mp3s on their site, all of which are pretty spectacular, but which range greatly from rockers like 'Ode to Guesswork' to some more ambient/sound collage works (the 'sequence' tracks, which are impressive in their own right). The songs don't seem to be available as any kind of tangible recording right now, but maybe there's something on the way Relay has a 5 song EP available right now for $4 PPD, which you can get by emailing the band (relay@uniformrecording.com). Promising though- Relay have got a sweet sound, and are versatile enough to keep things interesting.
P.S. If you haven't seen it already, fellow Wolf Parade lovers will shriek with delight to know that Said the Gramophone has posted the Sub Pop EP version of 'Shine A Light' (and written very well about it, natch). Also, Popsheep have posted and written about 2 tracks from Spencer Krug's Sunset Rubdown album, "Snake's Got A Leg", in a lovely entry right here. Just received the album in the mail last Thursday, and I will personally vouch for its greatness- one track in particular to note, 'Hope You Don't Stoop to Dirty Words, pt. 1', sounds like a lo-fi Bowie (I don't like this comparison, but it's as good a vocal reference as any) singing a ballad on top of something from Aphex's Selected Ambient Works II. Also, Spencer's lyrics remind me a lot of Ben Marcus' writing, something about the way he exploits the very nounness of words to the fullest extent (sort of a twisted Platonic essences feel). You can order "Snake's Got A Leg" from the very nice people at Global Symphonic for $12 Canadian (which works out to like $9 USD, including shipping! How can you resist?!).
Posted by Kevin at June 20, 2005 12:02 AM
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