Lyrics about math and atoms and electricity and alienation and what-not (sample song titles: “Nuclear” “Ionic” “Electricity” “Abstract”) (sample verse: “She’s a spasm/Protoplasm”) intoned in a droll monotone over calmly spastic riffs that lead one to believe that the guitar player’s mother was frightened by that Crucifucks song about the canisters whilst she was with child, backed by basslines that seem appropriately disjointed enough to match the guitar, yet deep ‘n’ shake-a-robo-booty rhythmic enough to lock in perfectly with the hard-hittin’ drums – meaning that while the geeks spaz out to the sonic and lyrical occurrences occupying the higher frequency ranges, the stoned art fop two feet away might very well be simultaneously locked in some manner of rhapsodic groove coma down at the lower end. Not a bad gig, really – sort of like if Gary Numan kicked Steve Albini out of Shellac or something. And, right when one begins to feel the feeling that the entire record is one big drone-smash statement after another, the band serves up a brilliant slice of comparative goofiness in “Search & Rescue,” which is almost Supernova-esque in its merry naivete (though not to the extent where the A Frames instruct everyone to string together all their belts because they lost their snorkels and their fins) (but TO the extent that i decide the band has more in common with the Epoxies than the Gang of Four) (thank fucking God). One thing i fully expected from this record that never materialized was at least one song where the singer purported to either be an artificial intelligence or an alien – no one said anything of the sort, and, as a result, i’ve been furtively looking over my shoulder ever since. BEST SONG: “Search and Rescue” BEST SONG TITLE: ah, i won’t give ‘em the satisfaction... but i will state, for the record, that if “Togetherness” is not a direct musical ripoff of “Apathy” by Suburban Mutilation, i will eat my own shit. FANTASTIC AMAZING TRIVIA FACT: Recorded (quite well) by Chris Woodhouse of the FM Knives, which i didn’t know until yesterday, despite the fact that i was in the same building as both Chris and the A Frames on two separate occasions this year.
–norb (S-S)