La Makita Soma - Brighton Park
(Someoddpilot)
Those against post rock often call it too cerebral or too clinical. Those people should be introduced to La Makita Soma, the band formed by former Bill Ding guitar player Dan Snazelle. The band takes the foundation of post rock and uses it to create light-hearted, upbeat grooves, grooves that fit every post rock standard of complexity but just have an open attitude behind them, perhaps reminiscent of Trans Am, that makes them seem a lot less weighty than they actually are. Brighton Park manages to be an enjoyable post rock album, in the truest sense of the words, without falling off the other side of the mountain into the abyss of easy listening and soft jazz.
These grooves are built mostly from keyboards, but folded in are a few layers of vibes, guitars, a trumpet, and other instruments. Unfortunately, this is not quite enough variety in sound for a 60 minute instrumental album, as the album seems to drag in the middle, but, after close inspection, it's not really the individual songs but the lack of difference between the songs that causes this. Perhaps just a better, more front-and-center bass player would give the band a richer, less monotonous sound; with just dueling keyboards in the forefront for much of the album, it can get to be a little too much.
In smaller doses, La Makita Soma is quite enjoyable. The music is hard to classify any further than just "post rock." It is too busy to be "drone;" it is too pure in tone to be "space rock" or "psychedelic." It is too soft to be "urban;" it is too electronic to be "pastoral." It is too pop to be "fusion;" it is too fusion to be "pop." Taking their own stab at their unclassify-ability, the band even has a guest MC rapping during the first three minutes of "Spaceship Feat Hi-Fidel." The song is similar to all the others--keyboard-based post-rock--but with rapping over top, the song could be a Quannum project.
La Makita Soma's carefree attitude makes them the post rock party band of the 00s. However, if I were to save one post rock party album to play at my totally bitching retro post rock party in the year 2010, I'd definitely choose Surrender to the Night over this one. Despite how enjoyable it is, the monotony of the sound gives Brighton Park a limited shelf life.
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