Artist: Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra
Album: Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light on Everything
Source: http://pitchfork.com/advance/313-fuck-off-get-free-we-pour-light-on-everything/
Pre-listening Notes: Okay, this band has already infuriated me and I have not even hit play yet. They have released music with 5 different variations on their name. That's worse than then The Self Defense Family. Alright, so couple that with the fact this is streaming on Pitchfork, they are "experimental"-rock/post-rock, and are Canadian, I am going in with very low expectations. Those are pretty much all I know about this. Oh, also I think the album cover is two people on a couch, one may be naked, while the other one snaps a picture with flash so that most of it is drowned in light. At first, I thought they were having sex, but the more I looked at it, the less I thought this was what was going on.
Initial Reaction: Starts off with a sample of a kid talking. Then the music starts and it's kind of standard indie rock. I don't see what is experimental about this. It's not offensive in any way. I mean, there is a song, with structure, musicians who seem competent in their ability to make music, and vocals that aren't annoying or non-existent. I like the fuzzed out guitar part around the 7 minute mark of this opening song.
Random Thoughts: Song two starts out super mellow with some voices over the sound of someone strumming a guitar, it might be acoustic or it might just be an unplugged electric. Then some noise creeps it's way in and is overpower until the music starts just shy of 2 minutes in. The song really did nothing for me, there wasn't anything too interesting about it, like the fuzzed guitar part in the first song. It's even longer to, at 14 minutes long. The third song is a little more immediate than the first two. It reminds me of something, I can't seem to put my finger on it. The rest of the album just kind of blended together.
Final Reaction: This really isn't my thing. I suppose I can sort of see why I've heard people talk about how much they like this band, but it really does nothing for me. I suppose it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be going in, but that really isn't saying much considering my expectation level. Overall, it was a fairly average indie rock album.
Final Grade: 4.5/10
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A Silver Mount Zion is like the annoying little brother of Godspeed You! Black Emperor. You really want to like them, but they lack that something (probably the bitchin camaro) of the original. I can't say that I've ever found their material to be bad per se, but it's never grabbed me, either live or recorded, in the same way that GYBE has been able to consistently do, and this album falls right in line with their history of Montrealean mediocrity.
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