Lexicon
Most of the compositions on his first two records,though nothing like the jams he used to spin, had recognizablebreakbeats and vaguely similar song structures to the very music Broderwanted to abandon. On his third effort and first on Lexicon, he makes aclean break, coming very close to making a pop record. 10th Avenue Freakoutstill displays Broder's talent as a sound collagist—the album'sthirteen tracks are simply brimming with patchworks of differentnoises: horns, woodwinds, blips, beeps and even the stray turntable.The arrangements are alternately sparse and low key and cacophonouslybusy, providing the perfect backdrop for Broder's pleasantly thin,reedy voice that takes the stage when it needs to, but sometimes fadesinto the sea of noises and becomes just another pleasurable sound. Therecord starts off strong. "Can You Believe It?" subtly layers organsand strings over a distorted broken drum and ends with hornsflourishing. Broder's songwriting is strongest on "We're Winning," anapocalyptic warning that is nearly lost in the staccato backbeat.Unfortunately, nowhere on the record do Broder's lyrics and music workbetter together. While 10th Avenue Freakout is more accessible andeasier to hum than anything Broder has done before, the end resultfeels like two distinct entities vying for attention at the expense ofthe other. In the end, the music wins, and 10th Avenue Freakout is the better for it. Broder is capable of beautiful harmonizing, and 10th Avenue Freakoutis full of bizarrely wonderful duets. He is probably the only person onearth who can make a song out of a telephone call, white noise and acar-wreck and actually do it well. And his lyrics aren't worthless—he'swonderfully charming to listen to, especially when his soft tenor emitscouplets like "and as for today/ I've had sneezes with much more tosay/ with tiny little novels in every fleck of snot." 10th Avenue Freakoutwill never be mistook for The Postal Service, but that doesn't detractfrom Broder's accomplishment: a uniquely charming and sonicallychallenging record.
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