Review: Roomrunner | Separate EP

If you've read anything about Baltimore noise-rock unit Roomrunner, and we're guessing you have, you know people can't seem to stop saying that the foursome loves the '90s rock. The band was practically suffocated with comparisons to Nirvana and assertions that it loved grunge during its last album cycle, although we have half a memory of a sticker applied to the face of the LP that suggested Roomrunner had a pretty solid sense of humor about it. After all, what's a band to do -- at least people are paying attention, right? Well, what Roomrunner did was evolve, and to an impressive degree, in fact, as evidenced by the foursome's fourth release, the terrific and massively listenable Separate EP.

The tunes on the short set tout a less dense, more nimble mix of elements, an apparent byproduct of all four members of Roomrunner contributing to songwriting for the set. In effect, the new dynamic masterfully frees the band from the glue trap of its earlier super-saturated, sludgy sound. Where Ideal Cities was an unrelenting listen that regularly featured overwhelming fuzz, Separate is marked by a notable amount of space within even more sophisticated and tuneful compositions. Sure, no one will ever call songs like the new one "Push Down & Turn" spare, but the mechanistic EP closer "Slow" is almost as airy and fluid as a Pinback song, and shows the remarkable degree to which Roomrunner's reality is greater than its supposed influences. On "Slow" Bowen presents a lower, gravely voice, before the song shifts into a bombastic, Weezer-styled chord progression appointed by simple, effective vocal harmonies that trail off in a series of surprisingly contented "doo doo doo doos."

The more balanced -- dare we say separated -- mix of Separate de-emphasizes guitars, or at least loud distorted ones, leaving room for different tones and textures to reveal themselves. Maybe they were there all along, hiding in the corners, paved over in album mixes by colossal guitars and explosive, room-filling drumming. Speaking of, notable EP opener "Ms. DNA" is packed tightly with some chunky, floor-stomping 4/4, but veers into a nifty 7/4 bridge. Fronter Denny Bowen smartly matches his nasal, distorted vocal to the tune serrated riff during the verses, making the song a fairly irresistible calling card for the collection. Dynamite preview track "Chrono Trigger" and its no-less-awesome-but-more-ridiculously-titled successor "ESPN Zone," instead of looking across the country (and the decades), seem to find inspiration in more proximal D.C. post-hardcore acts like Jawbox -- which, incidentally, was fronted by the EP's producer, J. Robbins -- or Shudder To Think. As the EP winds down the band continues to fluidly shift gears, executing some exciting dynamic shifts and entertaining some lighter, occasionally even jangly guitar. It's a new morning for Roomrunner, and we are very stoked to hear the next full-length set.

The Separate EP was released Tuesday via Accidental Guest on 12" vinyl or digital download; you can acquire the vinyl right here and the ones and zeroes right here. A bunch of live dates are posted at the act's Bandcamp right here; assuming you are reading this review the moment it goes live, you are probably missing Roomrunner's hometown show tonight, but the act is slated to perform in America's Living Room, a/k/a The Silent Barn in Brooklyn, tomorrow night, Oct. 25. -- A Dillon Riley and Jay Breitling joint

Roomrunner: Bandcamp | Facebook



Previously:
That Was The Show That Was: Roomrunner with Shannon And The Clams | Great Scott | 17 June

Today's Hotness: Two Inch Astronaut, Hausu, Hisoft



>> If you are getting a strong DeSoto Records or Dischord vibe off of trio Two Inch Astronaut, well, that's little surprise. The act hails from Colesville, Maryland, a burg situated just north of the beltway that rings the district. On its forthcoming sophomore LP Bad Brother, Two Inch Astronaut proffer a fresh iteration of the '90s post-hardcore anthemics championed by acts such as Jawbox and Shudder To Think. The nine-song set from the self-described "stealthy dark goofy post-punk" threesome touts sophisticated, angular compositions that splay out into massive crescendoes or subdued creaking grooves. "Spank Jail," the second track on Bad Brother, illustrates Two Inch Astronaut's well-developed penchant for speed, intricate grooves, aggression and (just enough) melody, but the rest of the record reveals that the threesome ably works in myriad tempos and shadings. What is consistent throughout is a beautiful desperation and relatable unease, things that made records like Jawbox's For Your Own Special Sweetheart or even Hurl's brilliant DeSoto single "Positronic Ray" b/w "Radishes" remarkable every time you listened. Opener "Swol" -- an excellent rocker that seems one or two genetic mutations away from a composition by remarkable Boston labelmates Pile -- and the blissfully syncopated mid-album cut "Blood From A Loyal Hound" are available now for free download via Bandcamp and you should go grab those right now. However, Clicky Clicky is particularly taken with the emotional, monolithic rocker "Sternum." Exploding In Sound has kindly agreed to let us offer an exclusive stream of the track, so hit the Soundcloud embed below and then hold on to your hat. The label will release Bad Brother June 18. The set is available for pre-order from the band's Bandcamp right here as a digital download or 45RPM 12" LP. The vinyl is available in a limited edition of 250 pieces, and the first 100 sold have been pressed to translucent purple vinyl. Two Inch Astronaut's most recent prior release was a split single with Boston's angular-rock juggernaut Grass Is Green, the cringe-inducingly titled "Split Dicks," last September. Those two bands will reunite in the physical plane June 12, when they, along with Crinkle Face and Hive Bent, perform at O'Brien's in Allston Rock City. In the meantime, have a listen to "Sternum" via the embed below, and get pumped.



>> Hopping to the left coast, today we also concern ourselves with Portland, Oregon's melodic indie-punk quartet Hausu. The act is preparing for a huge summer tour and the late June release of its debut LP, Total. A preview track from the set, "Leaning Mess" (a play on the word "meaningless," maybe?) leads with clean melody lines and bright jangle but ultimately harder post-punk dynamics cast long, moody shadows across the composition. Lyrically, fronter Ben Friars-Funkhouser presents the sort of opaque romanticism of Ian Curtis and Joy Division, albeit with a delivery that accounts for the rise and (arguably for some, we suppose) the fall of hardcore punk music. It is Hausu's vivid, visceral instrumental performance on "Leaning Mess" that will hold listeners' close attention, as the band veers from more conventional verses into discordant passages that flirt with sonic white-outs, urged on notably by an increasingly unhinged Friars-Funkhouser in the song's final minute. Total is being issued June 25 on cassette by Bridgetown Records, and on CD by Hardly Art; no pre-order information for the latter is available as yet, but a recent Facebook post from Hausu states it is in receipt of the cassettes and expects to have them on offer when it launches an ambitious, exhaustive five-week North American tour this week. The quartet play a relatively local live date June 18, when the act performs at renowned Easthampton, Mass. art space The Flywheel on an all-ages bill that also includes Harmoos, Lovebird, Tender Cruncher and Abortus Fever. Make a note of the live date nearest you, as we suspect after several listens to the embed of "Leaning Mess" below you'll be thinking this is a quartet you need to see.



>> Sure, there are a great many things that the world can use a lot more of, but if you ask us enough times -- and particularly today -- we will almost certainly eventually say the world needs more music from the apparently short-lived dream-pop band Hisoft and its dazzling but even more obscure, Pittsburgh-spawned precursor The Low Numbers. We've mentioned both acts in the blog previously years ago (this post from 2005 is the most comprehensive), but they are at top of mind again today. That's because over lunch we were trolling YouTube looking for Lilys clips we hadn't seen before (more on that another time), when we found this great live set from Hisoft. The erstwhile Philly act was comprised of fronter and guitarist Gerhardt Koerner, bassist Jesse Trbovich (now part of Kurt Vile's Violators, we believe), guitarist Don Devore and drummer Jason Kourkounis, and at least Mr. Koerner had previously served as a part of the Precollections-era Lilys line-up, which should make the aforementioned line of YouTube inquiry make a bit more sense. The five-song live performance may or may not have been filmed at The Khyber in Philadelphia, and the set list suggests it must have been about the time of the release of Hisoft's brilliant 2005 EP Amateur. Four songs from the five-song EP are performed: "West Coast Keith," "Comfortable," "Country Voice" (listed as "Country" on the EP), and "Continental Luck." Hisoft closes with the brilliant Low Numbers tune "Josef Albers," the b-side from one of two singles the band released (the second single was actually issued under the band name Numbers). The YouTube clip is a crucial document of an unsung act perhaps at the height of its game, so do take the time to watch the set end to end.

That Was The Show That Was: Greg Dulli with Craig Wedren | Brattle Theater

In the alternate universe that holds underground rock 'n' roll music in its loving embrace, there is the equivalent of a Great American Songbook. And in that songbook there are many, many tracks written by Greg Dulli. The former Afghan Whigs fronter, now helming Twilight Singers but performing largely acoustic last night with two sidemen, enthralled the fortunate packed into a sold-out, 235-capacity movie theater, sharing a career-spanning set that was only upstaged by the man's rapier wit. Dulli recounted having seen the film "Kiss Of The Spiderwoman" at the same theater on a date many years prior; offered comical excuses as to why he could not perform his nearly peerless song "The Killer;" called out an audience member for checking his email during a song; and was just generally hysterical throughout. The quote of the night, offered prior to a spirited rendition of the classic Twilight Singers jam "Forty Dollars," had to be this: "There are certain songs you can write any old time. Then there are certain songs you can only write when you’re really high on cocaine."

But the songs, oh the songs. Dulli offered timeless cuts including "Teenage Wristband" and "Follow You Down" from 2003's Twilight Singers set Blackberry Belle; "Summer's Kiss" from Afghan Whigs' 1996 epic Black Love; and at least one tune from a forthcoming Twilight Singers set expected to street in early 2011. Despite performing on acoustic guitars, with certain accompaniment from cello and violin provided by a cohort from New Orleans, the set's energy was high. Dulli performed for about 90 minutes and offered a final encore from behind an electric piano. We had never seen Dulli perform live before, and while we were disappointed to not experience "The Killer," the show was still a treat from start to finish. Check out the full set list right here, as snagged by the inimitable Bradley's Almanac.

Opening the evening was former (although he argued still current) Shudder To Think fronter Craig Wedren. Mr. Wedren makes his living now primarily (if not entirely) by writing songs for television and film. That's a far, far cry from the days when Shudder To Think was releasing music on the top-notch D.C. label Dischord Records. The only other time we'd seen Wedren perform was when his old band opened for Fugazi at City Gardens in Trenton, NJ in the summer of 1993; at the time Shudder To Think was out promoting its wonderful Get Your Goat record [buy it, it's awesome]. We lost touch with Shudder To Think once the act signed to a major label (there was a time when we were young and stupid and signing to a major was an unforgivable crime against the underground), so we were not familiar with the majority of the material Wedren performed with acoustic and electric guitar (looping and harmonizing against his own vocals, which was really terrific to watch) last night. But what we found particularly remarkable was that it seems Wedren has been able to preserve in his contemporary, "commercial" work a certain amount of the angularity and dissonance that made early Shudder To Think such a joy to hear.

Dulli's tour continues through late November and complete dates are listed here at the Summer's Kiss fan site. Wedren's stint on the road with Dulli ends Saturday, according to these dates posted at Wedren's web dojo.

Greg Dulli: Internerds | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr
Craig Wedren: Internerds | MySpace | YouTube | Flicker