Decomposure is composed of Canadian experimental electronic whiz kid Caleb Mueller. At Home And Unaffected is his follow up album to Taking Things Apart, both released on the Unschooled label.
Decomposure specializes in translating found sound into the digital realm, creating complex splices of spastic noises and notes. He’s like a non-rock throwback to Queen with his declaration that he does not use synthesizers. I believe this means his music is supposed to more organic, but much of it still comes off like really bad parody of Perry and Kingsley electronica. At Home And Unaffected is filled with artistic pretensions, but despite this it still manages to be mildly entertaining.
The album gets off to a rather deceiving start with “Whose Side Are You On?” which is as close as Decomposure gets to traditional song structure. It’s ramshackle pop that is memorable and actually hook-filled. We quickly get into the burble-blurp-burp noises that Decomposure seems to be overly fond of – it’s hard to detect where he found the sounds most of the time … was that a toilet flushing?
It’s the aural equivalent of the jump cuts so favored in music videos. I think I can hear potato chips being munched on the song “Distraction,” but I’m not sure.
“Beatbox” sounds like Decomposure got hold of a really cheap Casio keyboards so he decided to go crazy with the vocal setting. The next best thing to “Whose Side Are You On?” is “Disconnect,” which happens to contain a rather asinine attack on Christianity in its lyrics that will either repulse or amuse you.
It’s poetry slam time on “Multitracked” and like a real-life poetry slam, the music is bad and the poetry worse. There is some piano noodling on “Piano/Melodeon” to remind us that we’re dealing with an artiste, but Decomposure doesn’t get too far away from the electro headphone pots and pans-rattling textures most of the time.
There’s no telling how long it takes to make something close to resembling a song with found sound, and Decomposure deserves respect for having the patience that has to be integral to this pursuit, but I can’t help but think he probably used to be the nerdy kid carrying an instrument case in one arm and a big stack of textbooks in his other one that used to get the crap kicked out of him in high school.
I’m not saying that to be mean since I used to be friends with kids considered nerds (I never fit into any group really), it’s just that kind of imagery this digitized sonic marvel dredges up from my subconscious. At Home And Unaffected comes out in June.
Article comments
1 - Temple Stark
Never heard of them but Wally, I promoted this review to Advance.net. That means I put it here (and these places) where it could potentially be read by another few hundred thousand readers.
- Thank you for the post. Temple Stark
2 - Kevin
Decomposure linked to this review on his website, and said that it "exemplified shallow music criticism", and after reading this garbage, I agree -- this reviewer, Wally, is like a fish out of water when it comes to writing about music that he obviously isn't capable of comprehending or understanding. It is full of spelling and grammar errors, and the few comparisons Wally makes are completely irrelevant. That line about him being a nerd carrying an instrument case is stupid. This review is so bad it's laughable. It's like watching 'Striptease'. Keep your day job, Wally.
3 - Eric Olsen
sounds like he just didn't like the review - I see no spelling errors and the grammar is sometimes a bit awfward but where are the errors? Just say you don't like the conclusions of a review if that is the case - don't try to make the issue something that is not there.
4 - wallybangs
I'm honored that I would make Decomposure's website. Better to be a "shallow critic" than a marginally talented electronic musician anyday of the week in my book.
5 - Eric Olsen
good point
6 - Kevin
Ha ha -- that is a great comeback. Although I would think it would be better to be a marginally talented electronica musician rather than a talentless hack online review writer.
7 - Lewis
Now now, play nice.
I'd suggest it's difficult to appear anything but slightly shallow with such a small word count: as a music journo myself, I know I struggle to get any deep points across in anything less than a thousand words or so.
Though I have to say, the conclusion is quite bizarre. I can't see any relevance for the nerdy kid bit, which seems to be there more for the amusement factor than anything else. It didn't stand out as being an horrendous review, however.
8 - Eric Olsen
In a sense all reviews are "shallow" compared to the time and effort that went into the creation of the music itself, but that's the nature of the beast