Thing of the Day
Rome Pays Off, Alright The Captain
March 9th 2011
ROME PAYS OFF – There’s no Simple Explanation
(Trace) - Thought this sounded like Rothko, just threw it on without
looking who it was, like to do it that away, avoid any preconceived
ideas, just let the music flow, and this does flow… Now this really
does sound like Rothko, wonder if these people have heard any Rothko? They have
that same gentle soothing flow, that same sense of movement, Very very
relaxed, less is more, minimal post rock instrumentals, notes coaxed out
of a resonanting electric bass guitar while uncluttered soundscapes
gently glow in the wash underneath. More of those familiar
sonic explorations, all beautifully ethereal and delicately full bodied.
“...The founder members of seminal ambient drone collective Rothko
launch the debut release by their brand new duo Rome Pays Off”, it says here - so this is
Mark Beazley and Crawford Blair recording together again since the last
Rothko album back in 1999. Not sure about the press release claim about
them “having inspired a generation with their unique triple bass guitar
line up” but the cult London band did have a rather nice line in
rolling post-minimal melodicism. Thing is, as soothing and relaxing as
this is, Rothko were a bit of a one trick pony and these Eno flavoured,
Slint-like ambient explorations are pretty much more of the same again…
maybe a little less claustrophobic this time, maybe a little more space
and time. All rather mellow and minimal and soothingly good if you’re
in the right kind of headspace and you don’t need a change of gear or a
shift in texture or dynamic. More of that dark red Rothko stuff
then.
They play a show at Café
Oto, London, alongside Japser TX on March 11th and an opening event at
Tokarska Gallery, Walthamstow, London on March 24th. The album is out
on Trace Recordings on March 21st
www.tracerecordings.com 
ALRIGHT THE CAPTAIN - Snib (Field)
– Instrumental pieces of scuzzy math-grunge, Battles/Hella flavoured
sounds and a decent set of tunes from a rather hard-working
English three piece called Alright The Captain
. Nothing anywhere near as complex as Hella or Battles; the East
Midlands band are working on relatively simple musical equations and
repetitions, and they do tend to keep it on the same level in terms of
structure and texture all the way through so that when that bit of
light and shade does come along - such as the restrained bit at the end
Mega Drive that leads in to the momentary slow opening of Guilt, before
the bounce and the boing and the bits of drill come back in, then those passages
of light and shade are most welcome. London people (or those who got a
copy of the Organ Radio 19 compilation album) might just remember the
noise experiments and very live energy of a band called Three Ant Riot – throw
in a bit of Primus, a touch of Sqaurepusher, some analogue fizz and
you’ve got yourselves an album from an interesting dirty sounding
mathy instrumental three piece, and an album that is worth
checking out. They may need a little bit more variety in there over the
full length of a rather samey ten track album, but it is a pretty
likable sound… Nice bit of artwork too.
Snib came out this week (via Cargo distribution)
www.field-records.com
www.myspace.com/alrightthecaptain
www.cargorecords.co.uk
