I won't, I won't, I won't be backhanded. Won't be fronthanded either. As far as this record is concerned, I'm going to be respectful to the musicians and objective about their strengths and faults. I was gonna start this review with "yawn," but as I'm feeling a bit groggy, that would've been completely out of line. I'm gonna leave my non-reviewer related hang-ups behind and focus with careful consideration on Ideal Lives.
Rahim has put together an album that truly warrants this consideration, even if it is not one of the great ones. It's an assured and melodically deft collection of tunes that have the sort of removed melancholy particularly common to the DC brand of post-punk music. While they suggest they're influenced by The Talking Heads, this only seems evident in the bouncy bass lines dressed up in lock-grooves alone. The singing is unfortunately somewhat blasé and unoriginal, but with the adjoining vocal harmonies fairly constant, it still manages to be a strong hook for the listener.
One of the sharpest tracks on here has to be "Desire," because its darker tone and refreshingly different vocal tact comes at a time when some variety is in demand. If I were to venture a guess, Jawbox (whose J. Robbins produces this LP) would be the most evident influence on the band, as their music shares that same steely-graveness-combined-with-transcendent-melodic-flight approach. That, and the singer's inflection often manages to sound identical to Robbins'. All told, the main difference between the two bands would be Rahim's leaner fidelity and their horn and keyboard fills. If this sounds good to you, you'll find much to like here. The songs are all snappy with their rhythmic play and potentially memorable with their stop-start hooks.
Though the band is derivative of an established sound, they at least bring some good new ideas to the table. Rather than cop Beatles feels, they seem to be inspired by the band's giddy sense of adventure within a pop song. In this case, it's chilly post-punk with little pop flourishes to provide some unexpected warmth. They're never predictable, and that's certainly more than I could say for their labelmates, The Plastic Constellations.
1. KlangKlangKlang
2. Something From An Amputee
3. Only Pure
4. 10,000 Horses
5. Desire
6. Forever Love
7. Shut Off The Lights
8. Enduring Love
9. It's Not What You Said
10. Satisfy
11. In The Kitchen
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