The Crainium - A New Music for a New Kitchen (1998)

 

Math Rock / Noise Rock / Post-Punk

RIYL: Gang Gang Dance, Raccoo-oo-oon, The Hospitals

★★★★

At this point I've lost track of how many times I’ve removed and re-added this album to my music library, trying anew to gain some appreciation for it. An early Delorean entry on Tiny Mix Tapes and its mention of bassist Brian DeGraw's involvement initially grabbed my attention way back when, and its status as a precursor to Gang Gang Dance (as well as the sounds of the completely unhinged no wave freak-outs it documents) have surrounded it in an alluring mythos ever since, despite being somewhat repulsed by it each time I re-listened.

The most recent plays were different though, and maybe it's because I’ve been in a headspace inspired by a deep dive into Sonic Youth's earlier records or because I've been getting bored with more traditional indie rock, but I found enough to appreciate in The Crainium's chaotic song structures (which sound like noise punk being pulled apart on a stretching rack or wincing supine while knives are thrown in its direction) to keep coming back for more. James Loman's corrosive vocal contortions only add to the addled panic that winds up the record which quickly morphs into a cathartic primal scream and instrument-smashing therapy session to exorcise its pent-up anxiety. 

It was all too appropriate then that the listen that inspired this review soundtracked a manic search around my house for a set of keys I had haphazardly tossed aside somewhere without thinking hours before. The more I fruitlessly searched, the more my agitation swelled up inside of me, perfectly timed to the ballooning syncopated stop-starts of The Crainium's frantic explosions rattling my eardrums. Unfortunately the album ends before resolving itself in any kind of calm after the storm, so I was left to my own devices to conclude my search in a calmer state. I eventually found my keys at the bottom of a trash can (which also seemed appropriate to the auditory experience), but the more important discovery was a new appreciation for A New Music for a New Kitchen - it's no small feat to capture the tense patterns of a physiological distress response in auditory form, but The Crainium did it effortlessly and exceptionally well on their sole LP.