Thought Partner When Your Money Fails LP
Third release and first to vinyl from the Boston-based THOUGHT PARTNER. I hear the truncated, post-hardcore rhythms and shouted vocals of JESUS LIZARD, but with a synth that creeps in and bubbles around the turbulence. There’s long sections of drone and pulse, sparse at first, then rising with manic vocal flourishes for a brain-rattling crescendo, on full display in “Backfilling.” Right up my alley. While the aforementioned track clocks at over five minutes, they also have sub-two-minute tracks, speeding right by, making you long for those stretched-out moments. In general, the band plays effectively on the tension between odd rhythms, heavy four-on-the-floor beats, slower sections and chugging calamity. Dissonant, weaselly little guitar riffs mixed with a fat, heavy bass and splashy, find-every-possible-fill drums—all under the command of those vocals that sound like the singer is swinging on a pendulum past the mic, adjusting his volume as he draws nearer and further. After a few listens of this self-released record, I’m hooked.