Ooh boy, is it a short line between mellow and yellow. You can surround my naked body with the warm-water purr of atmosphere and lush moods for only so long; after a while I'm going to need to towel off and start my day. The problem with Instrumental Quarter is that they get you all loagy with their fiddling, then fail to bring you to life. Where's the emotion here? Remember folks, instrumental bands — ideally — are supposed to compensate for their lack of vocals with intensity, ambience, unpredictability, genre-shifting... something, anything to justify another album of 'jamming.' Look at track 12: "I'm So Excited" is the title; why do they sound stoned and bored?
I seem to remember a less brainy IQ, one that wasn't afraid of letting its hair down. This is a shapeless collection of tracks, uninspired and drooping below the belt like a portly pork belly. There's really nothing else to say. At first Traffic Jam sounded less congested to me, and it still does on occasion; "Another War," for example, is quite nice, a collage of keys and g-tar string picks and tom slaps. It's languid and, ghasp, MELLOW, but it manages to transcend any label through astute arrangement. "Another War" is followed by another glorious track, "Loser in Love," a majestic ripple of strings and soft percussion. But even these efforts carry the traits that taint the rest of Traffic Jam: flat-sounding guitar tones and organs straight from the theme song of Taxi. A little bravado would have gone a long way, as the vibrant mid-section of "The B&W Movie Set" and the all-in-all spectacular "Water Guns" attest, but it's too little too late, as the first half of Traffic Jam has already dampened your spirits. Take the subway.
1. A Beautiful Shopping Day
2. Walking to the 5th
3. Lost on My Desk
4. La Stanza Buia
5. The New Year
6. Another War
7. Loser in Love
8. The B&W Movie Set
9. Water Guns
10. Illinois Breakfast II
11. Windy Lands
12. Jackpot
13. I'm So Excited