Oceans of Totaled Noise

For our second review of the day, we're going to enjoy Totaled, the latest album by the utterly fabulous Indian Jewelry.  Opening with "Oceans," a swim through bouncing drum beats and synthesizers with a wonderful background loop, your senses are freed to enjoy the remainder of the album.  "Look Alive," where frenzied fuzz converges into steams of rackety rhythm, pumps blood through your veins and sound through your ears.  The keyboard goes through spasms of chords while synth filters through a mellifluous melody all washed in trippy beats.  "Excessive Moonlight" opens with rolling drum beats and waves of synth moving toward a booming voice singing of a frightening night sky.  The guitar creates a tunnel of sound through which the other instruments soar, culminating in a hollow, but strong end, a great transition into my favorite track, "Sirens."  This piece of tribal fusion has insanely good female vocals over strong, thumping bass chords, well-timed drum machine beats and undulating synth.  We next find ourselves on "Vision," beginning with backward tracked vocals and an '80s goth-electro rock inspired synth line.  This musical expression of sight includes solid bass riffs and stripped down percussion, shifting the focus to the keys and vocals.  "Tono Bungay" picks the pace back up through the use of droning bass and drums, and heavy synth, building up to the vocals and remaining steady throughout the first verse.  Into the chorus, the middle-eastern influenced guitar line comes in adding another layer of sonic gold to this towering album.  "Simulation" follows the tonal wind-down at the end of the preceding track with sparse vocals powered by Sabbath-like bass, guitar and fuzzy synth yumminess.  Next we have "Diamond Things," with Bowie-esque background vox and hefty drum beats, echoed by bass guitar and key chords, creating more wave-like patterns of sound which has been and is continued throughout the album.  "Never Been Better," with its retro goth punk synth, staccato cymbal, and rolling drum and bass line, is an example of how dark Indian Jewelry can be, and also how good they sound while doing so.  Sitar-like guitar rounds out one incredible track.  "Parlous Chapel and Siege" provides a warped gush of sound billowing into vocals and slowly working in synth keys with adds awesome ferocity, especially since they subtly increase the tempo as they go.  "Heaven's World Destroyer" pummels your ears with ever-evolving synth and drums that are out of this world.  The pulsing rhythm of "Touching the Roof of the Sun" has an almost mandolin-like effect, which gives creepy, tin-y sound to the guitar, paired with rolling, thunderous bass and drums. Nice... "Dog Days" ends the album as strong as ever, rocking out with harmonic keys and bass backed by vocals and drums.  Did I say this album is great?  Because it really is fantastic, and my vocabulary is currently incapable of getting across just how good these musicians are.  This is just one in a list of many fine albums Indian Jewelry has to offer.

Check them out at:  Indian Jewelry on Myspace

Love and peace,
Reniazen