"The New Math"
Mr. Hugo Ball
It’s the new math. Seeing is not believing, perception is reality, gay is good, meat is murder, and Fuzz is Verse. In the indie-music sphere, the old world and its tired conventions are passing away and being ever replaced by new ones. For Radiolaria, verse is not verse, chorus is not even verse, but rather, Fuzz is Verse - and at first listen to their new album this is obvious.
Overdriven guitars mixed with stylophone and some fuzzy trumpet thrown in by Dan McCabe make for a new kind of fuzz=verse formula that works for Radiolaria. That’s not to say that verse isn’t important. To the contrary, the vocals weave in and out of clarity, adding a further layer of fuzz and melodicism, so when taken as a whole package what you get are daydreamy vignettes layered over celestial, broken chords and a consistent eighth-note pulse to help you escape, momentarily, from all your dead-end realities while dancing all over them. When I could decipher any lyrics I found a literate sophistication that made me teeter between deep thoughts on the one hand and a strong desire to dress up in tin foil for a bubble-gum gala on the other.
Cincinnati’s flavor-ites, Marc, Korin, Jane and Carrie, create a wide array of moods and suggestions ranging from the slow but certain Sextant, to the bossanova-y Fuzzanova, to the rock-steady Landslide. There are some nice atonal moments as well, such as the noisy ending of Packyourchapstick. The lyrical, everyone-a-pop-star theme of the album seems reminicent of a post- Warhol urban aesthetic complete with slogan, you’ll outshine them all.
Overall, Radiolaria work a blend of sophistication and child-like simplicity held within pure, pop tension. The sound is distinct, but for general comparison sake you could take some Kim Deal and ram it into Stereolab and you’d be in the ballpark. Fuzz is Verse is just one of many new local albums containing the "recorded at Ultrasuede Studio by Steve Schmoll" stamp which tells the listener something about the art-rock bent to the overall studio production. Well worth your ten-or-so hard earned food stamps.