I have reviewed quite a few things from Fluttery Records, so i suppose i should talk about the label a bit. Fluttery send EvilSponge downloads of all of their releases, so i listen to a lot of their stuff. They release some pretty awesome post-rock, so you will see a good bit of it here. I think that part of the reason their quality is so high is that they are mostly a re-release label. That is, they locate bands that have self-released music or released it on a small label in their home country, and then re-release it for a wider (American) audience.
In a way they are kind of similar to what we do here. They sort the wheat from the chaff and then release it on BandCamp and burn some CDs. I write about it here for you to read and listen. We are both filters, helping you deal with the massive amount of music out there.
What this means is that any review of a Fluttery release that i review here is double-filtered! A sure sign of goodness...
Anyway, i like this debut EP by 42DE. I have no real idea what the name is supposed to symbolize, but the band are from Palermo, Italy, so maybe it is "an Italian thing".
42DE are a math post-rock band. This is instrumental music with odd rhythms.
The first tune is called Colours Are Relative and it is a clattering post-hardcore tune, with guitars clanging in odd rhythms, stopping and starting over percussion that moves in spurts. There are hints of Fugazi, Rodan, and The Purkinje Shift here. An auspicious start.
4th Impact is similar but it does have something you rarely ever hear: a bass solo. This song consists mostly of clattering guitars and percussion, but at one point everything parts and bassist plucks a solo. Huh. He does a great job, and the solo makes this song just a little different in an interesting sort of way.
They slow it down for Fall of the Moon, which is a prettier song with the guitars kind of meandering. It cruises along with a happy little riff on the guitars, and then suddenly the fuzz pedal goes down and the tune chugs like metal. It's a nice transition.
On Call of the Giants the band does a good job of channeling Explosions In The Sky. The song starts off slowly and melodically, the guitars noodling along, and then one of them does that fast EITS arpeggio while the other guitar strums a happy melody.
Finally, the record ends with Creation of Something Abstract, this is a slow, ponderous song, sparse and pretty at first, but it follows the song template that the band uses and speeds up, becoming dense and drum heavy in the middle. If you like this sort of thing then this is another fine example of what the band does.
So i am impressed. This is a short release, but it is fairly engaging for fans of instrumental math rock. 42DE certainly know what they are doing, and they do it well.
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