Music Reviews •

Nice Nice -wt Chrome -wl Temporary Residence -wf For all their technical prowess and instrumental wizardry, it’s hard to actually fall for Nice Nice. Jason Buechler (guitar) and Mark Shirazi (percussion) ram an overload of ideas and sounds into their twisted, half-improvised music, toeing the line between rock, funk, dub and psychedelic ambient. But one senses that too much time has been spent figuring out how to make these sounds with only two guys playing, and less time spent focusing on exactly what it is they’re trying to do. -wm The cover booklet informs us that “there are no overdubs on this recording,” which is all very admirable, considering there are a billion sounds and just two guys making them. But that particular aspect of their music is surely more entertaining in a live setting than on disc. Here it all too often comes across as an accidental crash of half-cooked ideas put together for effect and grandiosity. There are a few fine tracks, notably “Bees Make Honey,” “Disclaimers 1-5” and “Tiny Steps.” But the band too often falls into the trappings of power over stimulation, artistry over effect. I’d love to see these guys doing this on a stage, but on record it all becomes too accidental, too unfocused and, well, too boring. -wd Temporary Residence: http://www.temporaryresidence.com/ -wb Stein Haukland

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