Like career inventors, musicians are indeed thinking these days, whether for better or worse. Increasing difficulty to pigeonhole said thinkers has made its own genre of ecclectitians surely spawned by lonely nights with Ian Mckaye and Mike Patton. Single Frame, who are one of these proprietors, induct themselves into this club on their new album Body/End/Basement. They have a penchant for the equally calm and aggressive, all tied to together by aggressive synth work and highly mixed drums. Apparently, the album was recorded in four locations -- a work shed, a kitchen, a bathroom, and a studio. Upon listening, though, it is unapparent why this was necessary other than to say that they've done it. Most of the songs, however, are pretty good. They hang together through the type of loosely connected noodlings that gave the Unicorns success. Their intensity and penchant for effects also produces interesting recordings that make attention easy to hold. Some songs like "Culture Medium" and the killer closer "Make Yourself" hold together very well and give way to triumphant crescendos and unusually overdriven instrumentation. In the end, though, like their recording location, the music is somewhat overstated. Lyrics like "I got strung out/ I got strung out on your sound" and "Audio and visual blur together/ They look the same" aren't exactly the stuff of poets. Their manic attitude, too, seems to show not that they are bursting with ideas, but rather that they want to be considered manic and eclectic. This album may not get loads of attention press-wise, but for parties traditionally interested in this sort of thing, it is surely worth a listen.
1. Stuffed Animal Wall
2. I'll Lose Your Balance
3. New Blank Document
4. Culture Medium
5. Lost Pines (Dream & Body)
6. Exact Copy Of This In The Basement
7. Flying Circus, The
8. Through The Wires
9. People Are Germs
10. Digital Witness
11. Underground @ Noon
12. Slum Pioneer
13. Second Handshake
14. Field Recorder One
15. Facts About Doors
16. Tiny Whispers
17. Make Yourself