Unfortunately for Constellation Records, Godspeed You Black Emperor! is just
not producing enough side projects. Have there only been two full lengths
in the past year by Godspeed related bands? Come on guys, pick up the pace!
To solve the problem, at least temporarily, the label has decided to reissue
this 1998 LP-only release on CD, which features Aidan, a drummer for Godspeed.
However, don't be a sucker like I was. Don't go in expecting anything
Godspeed-like.
In every rocktown, there is one group of rockers who have decided to start a
techmo band with live instruments. In order to look like an authentic
techmo band, they bought a turntable and some phat keyboards, and totally
spent hours praciticing their sampling and scratching. So then
they set up some live shows and huddled in the corner churning out their
half-baked techmo. Of course it isn't real techmo; you knew that when the one
guy started playing the cello. But, hey, DJ Shadow uses cello samples, so
what's the difference? If every rocktown has to have exactly one bunch of
silly rockers trying to be techmo, then Exhaust is Montreal's version.
The band uses simple live rock drums, samples of news reports, reed
instruments, and other random stuff. Bass is used sparingly, so you can't
realy call this "drum & bass," but that's what it is, maybe "drum &
bass without the bass." Seeing as these guys are rockers and not
techmoers, they own lots of reel-to-reel tapes, not fancy, shiny new computers,
so these songs are bare, raw, and rusty, having the gloss of old concrete.
Three of the tracks are remixes done by the aforementioned Aidan, all of which
end up sounding a little bit industrial. Overall, there are a couple decent,
shallow atmospheres here, but nothing at all to really get excited over.
In all the rocktowns I have lived in, the fake techmo bands never actually
released any records, which is commendable. It can be fun to see these guys
muck around and experiment live, but it's hardly worth it to preserve and
distribute those experiments, nevermind pay thirteen American dollars for
them.
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