Erase Errata
At Crystal Palace
Troubleman
Erase Errata has enough hype behind them to power a large cruise liner. Within the pages of pretty much every “alternative” publication in the world, pictures of these ladies can be found – touted as “no wave” and “incredibly different.” While these things are all fine and dandy, one must ask one’s self, “Why does a band with such a gnarled and funky sound have such a tremendous amount of success?” To be honest, I can’t figure it out, as most of At Crystal Palace comes off as a female remake of Gang of Four’s Entertainment.
O.K., most of the acclaim that Erase Errata receives comes from their use of a disco beat with weird, angular guitars and robotic drum beats. They’re being hailed as a “no wave” band, but At Crystal Palace completely contradicts such a notion, as all of the tracks here are simply structured and follow basic time signatures (No Wave is late 1970’s punk rock music lacking structure, aim and direction; it was a reaction to the Talking Heads’ – and others’– bastardization of New Wave and taking it into commercialism). I don’t know, the members of Sonic Youth seem to think that Erase Errata are the greatest thing since sliced bread, and Lee Ranaldo and Thruston Moore were there in the thick of the No Wave movement, so they’re much better judges than I am.
I’m just trying to figure out a way to let the public know that At Crystal Palace blows, as I know I will take a lot of heat for it. What they’re doing is neither unique nor good. The guitars are way too loud in the mix, and they play in that weird staccato that Gang of Four popularized, and that stuff can hurt your ears after a while. I guess it’s a cool idea to add the disco beats, but it just gets old after the first couple of songs, and I do not exaggerate when saying that all of the songs on this album sound exactly alike. I don’t know whose pockets these guys slipped some cash into to write such praising things about them, but boy oh boy, this record is a train wreck beginning with the first song, with mass casualties and painful suffering all the way through to the end. I’m going to take an aspirin.
Troubleman Records: http://www.troublemanunlimited.com
