“supersonic”
Supersonic
Wall To Wall Moustache
Warner
There was a time, a few years back when there was a glut of kinda-punk guitar bands that obviously would have been playing like Aerosmith (that’s not a bad thing, mind you) if that were what the rest of the glut were up to at the time. We are now entering a time where we will be seeing more and more sampler/DJ combos. A good deal of them would have been in kinda-punk guitar bands if that was what the rest of the glut were up to now. That’s not to say they’re jumping a bandwagon; modes of delivery change with the times. However, sensibilities often remain the same despite.
There’s some good stuff on Wall to Wall Moustache; some overdriven Moog snippets, some Eric B & Rakim samples, some awesome-sounding, straightforward, big beats. But the sensibilities, the way these good elements are worked in, haven’t evolved. The approach has outrun the sensibilities.
The nature of this kind of listenable dance music is repetition, but Supersonic’s songs lack the organic structure that makes repetition bearable. Most of the songs rely too heavily on the power of four; a new sample or sound comes in, is repeated, is repeated, is repeated again, and then a new one comes in or the part changes, just like pop music. The difference is guitar sounds are real time and subtly indeterminate, while in programming, a repeated part is EXACTLY the same as what precedes it and what it has preceded. The result is sterility and predictability.
Some songs, like “Spacemaker Deluxe,” work better because they’re more organic, skittish, and interesting. These guys aren’t bad per se. I’ll just sum it up by saying, maybe next record.
