p-brane
warp records
Plaid's latest EP opens with "Coat", a track that comes thisclose to sounding like a remix of any random track off of Speedy J's A Shocking Hobby 2000 LP on NovaMute. They've used that familiar metasynth-styled compression of beats and noises to give their beats a squelchy presence that actually enhances the material quite a bit. The rhythm section is joined by choral organ stabs that wrap around one another in a comforting fashion.
"Diddymousedid" sounds like a more typical Plaid track. It features misaligned synthetic beats and bubbly melodies chirping away underneath the table, as though clamoring for scraps from the song that eventually makes its way to the selfsame table.
"Stills" and "Mfaus" continue in this fashion. A plaintive melody is slowly foregrounded, until the once-strong rhythm section is almost negibily present. Not exactly "hook-laden" on first listen, but certainly not sterile, and in fact the songs become recognizably warm by the second or third time around. And just like that, the EP builds to a frantic drum-n-bass inspired crescendo, until it suddenly comes to an almost unanticipated end. Plaid's other material hasn't really prepared us for the way in which this EP builds and builds and builds until it segues into chaotic closure at the very end. Or "tail" end, if you will, in keeping with the mouse-themed sounds of the EP.
The CD-ROM features a video for 2001's "Eyen" video, as directed by Jean-Luc Chansay.
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