Dylan Group - Ur-klang Search
(Bubblecore)
While it is easy to totally dismiss The Dylan Group as just another band
copping the Tortoise vibe, the band deserves just as much credit for copping
Stereolab's vibe or Amon Tobin's vibe. Hey, wasn't that cover of "Girl From
Ipanema" enough to convince you of that? I don't think Tortoise has anything
remotely as pop as a Jobim cover planned for their next album.
The heart of The Dylan Group's sound is the vibes, and no, I don't mean the
ones they are copping; I mean the vibraphone. But while there are several
bands now who totally bastardize the instrument by playing straight math rock
or post emo and then sprinkling the vibes on top, The Dylan Group is all about
the vibes; the guitar and drums are the sprinkles.
The Dylan Group's latest, Ur-klang Search, sat on my desk for about two months
between its third and fourth listening. The album seems a little bit harder
to get into than their previous two, and I'm not sure exactly why. One major
contributor is the length. All their albums are long, but at 74 minutes, this
one is almost impossible to listen to all in one sitting. Of course, if the
music is uniformly great, length would not be an issue.
The instrumentation and, particularly, lack thereof leads to these nongreat
points. I don't recall this being the case in prior Dylan Group songs, but
their are long patches on the current album where the only instruments used are
dueling vibes (with minor drumwork). Now, don't get me wrong. I am a big fan
of vibes, perhaps more than should be allowed, but songs consisting almost
solely of vibes can sound too wind chimey, and that's exactly how those parts
of Ur-klang Search come off (check the near 2 minute intro to "Avila" or all
of "D/A3").
Songs where more instruments are used are more successful. The vibes are still
the lead, mind you, but trumpet, guitar, and, especially, bass are needed to
round these songs out. While the few scattered minutes of unaccompanied vibe
are a little tedious, most of the minutes of Ur-klang Search are more fleshed
out and make the album worth taking the time to get into.
"Julito's Way" closes Ur-klang Search much in the same way as "Girl From
Ipanema" closed It's All About Rimshots & Faulty Wiring, with the album's
most over the top number. Using "Girl From Ipanema" let The Dylan Group do
a totally irresistible pop song using their unique rock instrumentation. In
"Julito's Way" we get more of a sizzling Latin jazz style with scatterbeat
drums, standard jazz bass backbone, and alternating solos from trumpet,
keyboard, guitar, vibes, bass, and drums. All that's left is band member
introductions and audience applause, I guess.
The rest of the songs will not surprise you if you've heard The Dylan Group
before, and most are very well done. "Division Long" mixes keyboard tones
and noises with vibes, "The Crunch" uses loud guitar and rock drums to give
the vibes a wall of sound to pierce through, "Towers of Dub" mixes, duh,
a Jamaican dub bassline and handclaps with the ever present vibes... even
though some of these songs have a lot going on, if you're not listening for the
vibes, you're missing all of the action.
If I had to pick, I'd take It's All About... or More Adventures in Lying Down
over this album, but the music here, for the most part, is great. Fans of
the band need this, and for those new to the band, this is as good a place to
start as any.
|
