I sort of doubt Boston’s Neptune [full disclosure: my band has played shows with them in the past] timed the release of their new Silent Partner album to line up with most haunted houses’ opening weeks, but what the hell — let’s go with it. Art-rock in the most literal sense (every band member plays on home-crafted guitars, drums, and assorted knick-knacks built by head alchemist Jason Sanford), Neptune have banged through several lineup mutations since their inception back in nineteen-ninety-frickin’-four, going through probably more scrap metal than the Millennium Falcon. In this live performance video for “Cash Mattress” — a throbbing, roiling rumble of percussion and electronic bleepy-bloopery that puts the Neu! in Neubauten — the core duo of Sanford and Mark William Pearson are joined by new members Kevin Micka and Farhad Ebrahimi on drums and drum-type percussive implements (“aluminum discs and bowls” are actually listed in the starting lineup). They replace former percussionist Daniel Paul Boucher, who left for Arizona after the touring wound down for 2007’s color-schemed Gong Lake.
Silent Partner hit the streets October 11 on Northern-Spy. Neptune will be christening it with a release show at Union Pool today in New York.
• Neptune: http://www.neptuneband.com
• Northern Spy: http://www.northern-spy.com