While many, myself included, tend to think of New York’s Controlled Bleeding based on their harsh noise period in the mid 1980s, they always had a more multifaceted sound, and more recent works, such as Odes to Bubbler, have embraced more of a free jazz influenced rock sound. Paul Lemos and company do that genre quite well on here, though many CB fans may already own the bulk of this record.
Other than the first six tracks on here (and two uncredited bonus songs), this material was on the Vinyl-on-Demand Songs From a Sewer of Dreams LP box set, and also the first disc of the Gibbering Canker-Opera Slaves CD set.If you're an owner of either of those, such as myself, think of this as an expensive EP.
"Chum Grubber" and "Controlled Bleeding" reminded me of some of Naked City's best material, in that it puts just the right amount of ramshackle noise into a traditional rock framework, both tracks reaching out into harsh, noisy waters but being reigned back in at just the right time.On "Eye of Needle" and "Shards Blown Back," the band embrace more of a post-rock sensibility, relying less on instrumental freakouts and more on textural explorations, making for two very captivating songs.
The remaining material, which is previously released, takes its cues from the band’s long and varied discography.There's more of the jazz influenced noise freakouts, such as the four part "Bees," which nicely juxtaposes noise, jazz, and grindcore throughout, and "Spattered In the Key of "O"," featuring Weasel Walter on drums, treads similar waters, adding in some squawking horns to the machine gun rhythm fest.
"A Love Song (In Two Parts)" shows a bit of the band's playful side:for the first third it's a prog rock synth kaleidoscope of sound, but launches violently into a wall of harsh digital noise that harkens back to their earlier days, before closing out on a somewhat random (and goofy) piano and guitar ending."An Announcement," which is slightly different on here than the other places it appears, is a cute little track of the band if it was lead by a little girl.
The first of the two unlisted tracks grabbed me, with its slow building structure and dubby, Krautrock inspired rhythms that are equal parts Tago Mago and Metal Box, a combination that can’t go wrong in my opinion.It sounds as if it might have been recorded specifically for this disc, but I can't say for sure.
Other than the redundancy of this material when compared to the aforementioned box sets, Odes to Bubbler is a strong, if not completely coherent, album.While it jumps back and forth stylistically, pretty much everything Lemos and cohorts choose do, they do well.There are bits that do nothing for me (the jazzy scat vocals that pop up aren't my thing), but the whole package works well.Those who pine for the days of pure harsh noise will probably not be overly interested, but for me, it’s the right level of eccentric.
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