Lee Boyle
This is CB's best record to date, with a slightly leaner sound that stays true to the chaotic influence of jazz music on modern times. This is a must have for Ohio-music fans who lean toward the abstract.
"Spastic and strident. Gunzburg's thick layers of distortion make "Gnarly Chaplin," "Junk Jazz," and "Old-Timey Physics" rumble like revving Harley engines, belching lava cauldrons, and stampeding elephants. While Joseph's shambolic stickwork on "Is This Ride Operational?" feels like a bevy of bowling balls in a blender."
THE BIG TAKEOVER
"Fuzz Fuzz Fuzz; now that I've gotten that out of the way. It's a construction of synched instruments and melodic riffs over drums. The drums are gregarious and fun; a lot of subtley The vocals are an oasis from the insanity -- so harmonious that it lets you know the instrumental nature of the album is a clear aesthetic choice and not a lack of ability. This is a fun album by an interesting band."
ISSUES
"Musically, junk jazz isn't a terrible description. There's some art rock, lots of psych and krautrock, and yes, some jazz. Within most of the songs, they do a lot of different things, have several different "movements". Some of them ("Gnarly Chaplin," "Spare Particles," the title track, and "One Big Button") even have some dreamy vocals in them. Sometimes they do some ridiculously fast psych freakout stuff, sometimes they play it heavy, sometimes they do some nice slow jams. Sometimes the drums sound like when you were in gym class in elementary school and the teacher would dump out a bag full of basketballs and they'd hit the ground and each other at different times and make a cool sound…where was I going with this? I am pretty impressed with the musicianship on here. There are a couple points where you'd swear that this song is about to fall apart into total chaos but then they keep it together. "Old-Timey Physics" closes out the album and takes up almost all of the second side. It starts with a slow, kinda pulsating part that gets more and more distorted and weird as it goes on. I know this is an odd reference to throw out, but it kinda reminds me of "Small Piece Of Germany" from the Ego Summit record a little bit. There's a fake out ending before it goes into a more uptempo section. I like how right when you start to get into a groove, they change it up. Speaking of that, they eventually go back to the pulsating thing from the start, but this time with the drums having a fit over the top of it. Then, just when you think it's over, there's a short, quiet little fourth section that actually ends the record. This isn't really the kind of thing I listen to, but I think that's part of why I kinda like it. This is a solid record of what it is."
LAKEWOOD OBSERVER
"Hard-driving guitar sounds. Maybe not something I would seek out; these guys were definitely in tune with their music."
ZENDER AGENDA
"Highly prolific."
CLEVELAND SCENE
"Fuzz-heavy with the heart of punk rock."
COOL CLEVELAND
credits
released August 5, 2016
Joseph Joseph: drums, synth, vocals
Nicholas Gunzburg: bass, guitar, synth, vocals
Engineered by John Delzoppo at Negative Space
Mastered by Adam Boose at Cauliflower Audio
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