Analogue
Rock Proper EP
OpPopPop/Rubric
Considering the fact that this is only Analogue’s second CD released during its five-year career, they aren’t exactly the most prolific band in the world, but this can be attributed mainly to their extremely unlucky streak. The band’s first 7” and CD/LP were released on the Sonic Bubblegum label around 1996. Then the label went belly-up, and in the meantime, Analogue had already recorded their sophomore effort, the Rock Proper EP, with producer Nicholas Vernhes in the winter of 1997.
Now almost three years later that release is finally seeing the light of day, thanks to the combined efforts of the Bevis Frond’s label Rubric and OpPopPop. Analogue was clearly a part of the first wave of Tortoise imitators, when bands started saying to each other, “Hey guys, guess what? We don’t have to sing, and we can use stuff besides the guitar! Isn’t that great?”
The fact that they are from North Carolina rather than Chicago, the land of Tortoise and their one billion side projects and imitators, also hindered Analogue’s potential popularity. Rock Proper is above and beyond the majority of the post-rock that has been released since 1996, with shining, emotive guitars, bright organ drones that don’t sound like Tangerine Dream, and basslines that speak to you.
The band has lost its greatest asset, drummer David Cantwell, who kept all of the aforementioned elements together, and continues on with two new members under the moniker Analogue II, but will most likely never again reach the kind of heights achieved on the Rock Proper EP.
