Search - Motor Humming :: Musical Aluminum

More Japanese post-Prog Rock

Snow Leopard | Urbana, IL | 10/16/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"For fans of out-there Japanese music, this disc is comparatively tame--not even in the same galaxy as Merzbow or even Acid Mothers Temple, way less punk than Boris, way more poppy than the Ruins, something like a less hardcore edition of Korekyojin. But comparisons aside, what does Musical Aluminum itself have to offer?



First, while not a contender for Japan-extreme Award of the Year in some category, this is hardly worthless music, and deserves a better review than the existing one. An instrumental trio, Motor Humming at times conjure up a glimmer of Primus (on "Native Dance" most of all), and other times a less frantic Ruins, especially in the Nervous Game cycle (five songs spread out over the disc).



One thing that Motor Humming does have that many of its more hardcore compatriots lack is a sense of humor. While there is little here to make you bust out laughing outright, there are noodlings and gestures that are definitely playful. "Holiday Accidents," with its slight whiff of novelty, is certainly playful, and the 46 second long "Alien Skip," which starts out with a very serious Ruins-type riff, drops instead immediately adorable and silly little bop that manages to end on a nice serious little crunch, as if to make you take it seriously after all. A lot of wit in a little song. "Little," alternatively cutesie and quasi-prog, seems to give free rein again to the composers' glancing affection for Westerns'-style plucking.



In "Distortion Watch" the band attempts a rather daring experiment in durations, or so it seems, stretching out repetitious licks longer than they should. From a lazier band I would think these overlong passages were just sloppiness; instead, they seem structurally deliberate, even if it doesn't quite work after all.



"Cyborg Fish" (I apologise for making more comparisons) bears some resemblance in its main riff to something Skin Yard might have done on it's debut album. The band really seems to be pulling on its strengths here, with separated guitar, bass and drum lines, that still all hang together somehow. And again, they seem to overplay with durations before (gratifyingly) going back to the song's main theme.



"Nervous Game 5," is the longest of what appear to be improvisational pieces. It is doubtless a coincidence, but there seems to be a quote from King Crimson's "Dig Me" at the beginning. Meanwhile, the piece relentlessly frustrates expectations and seems hell-bent on not going anywhere. I mean this in a good way. Again, the way this band messes with durations is clever-challenging-grating--it really gets in the way of "taking the song in" in a way that may explain why the Tzadik label published them. Of course, eventually the song does finally get going, and the tweaked durations that have led up to it make that get-goingness that much more welcome. How well this technique holds up on a second listening without becoming merely boring remains to be seen.



Unfortunately, the disc closes on a fairly weak song, "Satellite"; at 7'06", it is a fairly long weak song, and the longest on the album. Moreover, it shows none of the durational fiddling of previously; it just meanders through a handful of sections. The reprise of the opening theme, as if to bring it all together, seems an especially pat ending. It would be fun to imagine that the experiments in durations present in other songs were reflected in the disc sequence itself as a series of short songs that finally ended in a grand epic. However, "Satellite" doesn't fit that bill. If the album had ended with "Nervous Game 5" then perhaps.



Overall, this disc may be more energetic than intense, but this is not necessarily a liability on a label brimming with earnestness."