Stamping Mill
Agitation Systems
42°53’N 74°46’E Records
There’s a great history of one name musicians that are full of themselves: Bono, Prince, Slash and now Joseph. You’ve not heard of him unless you’re into the avant-garde argumentative four guitar sound based on random numbers, chaos theory and a composition style that is either Beefheart cutting edge or brain damaged incoherent. This EP is Joseph’s 3rd effort according to his very brave press agent, and these six tracks feel… itchy.
Joseph has a declaratory vocal style that reminds me of someone dissing a freshman in gym class. “All News is Gossip Parts 1” rails on the evening news or the reporting in a free weekly newspaper; “All News is Gossip Part 2” features a semi-competent flute line that seems like it’s trying to apologies for the guitar. “Committee of Public Safety” begins as a quintet instrumental number; it’s the most accessible track here with a jazz feel, but it helps if you can ignore Joseph’s unique vocal styling. There’s some sort of political angle in “Earnest Roam (Fear to Action)”, and if you’re a fan of talk radio hosts who use an audio compressor to make themselves sound louder, this might be right up your track. But overall, this is a difficult set of sounds for listening, and not for the music lover who prefers melody, lyrical coherence, and fluid composition.
