-=- SHGZ -=-
* Shoegaze * Indie * Post-Rock * Grunge * Dream Pop * Psych-Rock * Ethereal *
Artist..: Luder
Album...: Sonoluminescence
GENRE...: Psychedelic Rock
STYLE...: Shoegaze, Hard Rock, Stoner Rock
YEAR....: 2009
ENCODER..: LAME 3.98.4 -V0 LABEL...: Small StoneSmall Stone
BITRATE..: 254 kbps avg SOURCE..: CD
SIZE.....: 118.00 MB TRACKS..: 10
- TRACKLIST
1 Sing To Me 4:19
2 S-Words 7:22
3 Selfish And Dumb 5:44
4 Cold Hands, Warm Pants 7:28
5 Hot, Girl-On-Girl, Vampire Action 8:07
6 In Love With Love 7:27
7 The Pox 6:24
8 Points West 5:04
9 Sewn Together 6:40
10 Soledad Y Onanismo 6:17
Total Playtime: 64:52
Luder's 2009 debut album, Sonoluminescence, takes you back to the
oh-so-long-ago of, what, 1994 or so? Yes, it's difficult to believe that it's
been that long already. But the alternative metal and shoegaze sounds
emanating from Sonoluminescence's grooves evoke instant Technicolor
flashbacks (well, tones of gray Technicolor, anyway) to that mid-æ90s sonic
aesthetic -- as dated, yet as comfortable, as that grungy old Cardigan
sweater you wore against your mother's protestations, until the very last
string unraveled like some vision preordained in that damn Weezer song! But
primarily, it's the confluence of Sue Slot's dreamy, haunting whispers and
her bandmates' droning, angst-ridden darkness that breeds this familiarity,
epitomized by tracks like "Selfish and Dumb," "The Pox," and particularly
"S-Words," which sets progesterone-fueled Alice in Chains vocal harmonies
against a circular riff backdrop direct from the Jane's Addiction toolkit.
Evident influences aside, though, the members of Luder unfurl just enough
unorthodox elements from their separate prior musical paths to give those
templates some distinction, including classic, psychedelic, and stoner rock
elements, metallic riff worship, and even a discreet power pop undercurrent
that alleviates the exquisite torment of it all right about when you're
reaching for the skip button (cue the gloriously depressing "Sewn Together").
For example, one of the more interesting songs, the amusingly named "Hot,
Girl-on-Girl, Vampire Action," drones on forebodingly for much of its
lysergic eight minutes, but unexpectedly breaks out into a bouncy pop-punk
midsection that feels as though it were painfully grafted on. "In Love with
Love" also picks up the pace when you most needed it to, and the closing
enigma of "Soledad y Onaismo" (err, "Solitude and Masturbation"?) travels a
daunting road from its sparse acoustic beginnings to its Tool-like post-metal
apocalypse (by way of a Sabians guitar solo -- look that one up!). In sum, as
exercises in nostalgia go, Luder's Sonoluminescence feels pretty darn welcome
when all is said and done, and it makes for a rather unrepresentative but
memorable choice to serve as the Small Stone label's celebratory 100th
release (owner Scott Hamilton is also one of Luder's two guitarists), which
is no mean feat in today's troubled music industry.
*
It's a somewhat easy way to start a review to describe Luder as a psychedelic
or stoner rock band but it also fits. I don't know about the band but I
somewhat object to the label even though I'm the one using it. Because, to
some people, a psychedelic band is band that you can perhaps only listen to
if you're high on goofballs or have accidentally fallen into a giant bong.
Which isn't fair really. But it is fair to say that music like this is enough
in itself to sufficiently stimulate the senses to elicit such an altered
state without resorting to dissolving powders of questionable origins
directly onto the surface of one's eyeballs.
Luder are such a potent chemical made up of many elements most of which can
be found in the half-light of pop, alternative, trip-hop and of course - the
reason why we're all gathered here today - metal.
With its already off-kilter 5/4 time signature album starter 'Sing To Me'
adds an extra layer of the unexpected with a vocal part not usually heard
outside of a Wendy and Lisa album. It's a good start.
'S-Words' has a great hypnotic wraparound bass riff accompanied by a light
trip-hop drumbeat and equally trippy vocals that wouldn't be out of place on
a Martina Topley-Bird album. The track soon ODs with chest arresting guitar
riffage over slow sizzling drums before falling back into the trippiness soon
after.
'Selfish And Dumb' is a quite funky yet still trippy track, which somehow
brings to mind The Stone Roses no doubt due to Sue Lott's lowly echoed
vocals. 'Cold Hands, Warm Pants' employs another seriously
groovy...well...groove. The guitar and drums dictate the tempo while the bass
locomotes freely about like a sidewinder before the whole lot turns into a
Sabbath-inspired black mass.
'The Pox' features the strangest of time signature that twists and turns,
resists and defies any attempt to quantify or understand it. There are some
great Zeppelin-isms in this track from the huge bass drum to the chordal work
and eastern riffing. The song also features the liveliest chorus so far and
has something of a Perry Farrell ring to it.
'Sewn Together' is another hugely addictive riff that you could listen to all
day without ever missing the vocals. Album closer 'Soledad Y Onaismo' is
Spanish by name and Spanish by nature. The acoustic guitars come out and the
wooden drumsticks are temporarily put aside for the first half of the song.
The relentless riffing is still present though transferring through each
stage of guitar from acoustic to clean electric and finally cranked up to 10.
Luder have certainly got grooves aplenty and manage to successfully connect
the more alternative end of the Indie scale with guitar-heavy metal. So with
such great riffs and grooves surely the deciding factor will be whether you
like this particular dreamy vocal style. And for that I hand Luder over to
you.
-=- SHGZ -=-
P.S.
** Thanks ***
*** BCC FNT IPC SSR ***
*** For Knowing Where The Music Is At ***
--===--
*********************
* NuHS we miss you! *
*********************