Well, since my suggestion of a "Tiny Mix Tapes: Win A Dream Date With Ashlee Simpson Trivia Contest" was shouted down at the bi-monthly shareholders meeting and dually met with prohibitive legal action from the Simpson camp, I will simply give you the answer to the trivia question which was: What was Theodore's favorite food on Alvin And The Chipmunks? The answer of course is manicotti. While the contest failed, my album review segue is still very much alive, and here it is: The drummer for the Texas based, instrumental genre kaleidoscope, By The End Of Tonight, you see, plays a child's drum kit, yes, much like Theodore was known to play. A child's drum kit, however, with a double kick drum. And let me tell you, such a beating of raw intensity and passion, these drums were never designed to take.
The size of the drum kit, though, is really the least interesting thing about this quixotic quartet's debut EP, Fireworks On Ice. Each of the four tracks are at once stitched together and torn apart at the seams with the styles spanned. They are as comfortable with rapid, off-kilter, single note tinkering a la Hella as they are with a Lemmy-esque chainsaw onslaught. Not uncommon would it be to find them alternating the two multiple times within the same thirty seconds. On "Video Games Buried Beneath The Desert," when one of the members shouts out "May I have your attention please?!" during a rare break in the sound, coming after a furious punk power chord progression, a lulling Mogwai-like arpeggiated build up, and a machine gun, dual guitar, single string metal riff, simple irony has never known more thickness. Oh, and if you think that the whole child's drum kit thing is simply a gimmick, while I can't tell you that it for sure isn't, I can tell you that the drumming is spot on fantastic and that after the first minute or so, you'll question what this whole full size drum set trend is all about.
Okay, but don't get weird on me quite yet. I don't really like math-rock either, and while I like the idea of a band such as Hella, ultimately after a time, the complex hijinks and noodling begin to make it seem more interesting to be the one playing than the one doing the listening. In terms of instrumental music, I am more drawn to the lush dramatics and screaming crescendos of a collective like Explosions In The Sky. By The End Of Tonight feel pretty much as I do, and within every track amidst stop on a dime changes and phrenetics are moments of heartfelt, swelling gorgeousness, rivaling the best of the post-rock climaxes you've died over. Math-rock with a heart! I never thought I'd see the day.
Despite the awful, awful name, By The End Of Tonight, is the next band to crutch your Pitchfork cred upon (so long Deerhoof!). They are the only band Temporary Residence has signed from an unsolicited demo, and by Jove, for good reason. At once, inscrutable yet mind blowing, technical yet playful, speed metal yet good, they have set a high bar with merely an EP to their name.
1. Delirious, where have you been?
2. Sleeping while driving prevents old age
3. Video games buried in the desert
4. It's Christmas time again...