By this point in my life, I have a pretty good idea of what I like musically and what I don’t. Sometimes, this leads me to have an affinity for records that others dismiss as somewhat repetitive, containing a collection of tracks that are difficult to distinguish from each other. Usually those are the records that I spend a few weeks or sometimes months raving about before they eventually fall off my radar and I move on to something else. While I still appreciate those albums, there is something to be said for diversity and its correlation to the shelf life of an LP. As I sit back now and reflect on all of the records I listened to in 2009 in an attempt to extrapolate my personal favorites, something that many music bloggers and journalists are doing at this point in the year, I find that my list is dominated by albums that kept me on my toes from track to track. These are records that I tout to my friends but am hesitant to give them a track to check out for fear that they will never really understand the entire work unless they hear it all together. This week, after giving multiple spins to ILAD’s upcoming release, the aptly titled Here/There, I have a new record to add near the top of that list.
I originally touched on ILAD nearly three months ago in a random Monday column, where I reviewed the track “Magazine.” I loved the song, but at the time it was the only one I had heard from the album, and in retrospect I realize that I grossly underestimated the band’s talents. If you remember that column (or if you followed the link and read it just now), you will recall that I compared them to a “downtempo version of Crystal Antlers.” No disrespect to Crystal Antlers, because I do still enjoy spinning Tentacles every now and then, but I would like to officially retract that comparison right now. In fact, I am no longer going to compare ILAD to any band that I have heard to this point because their range and diversity separates them from anyone else that I can think of off the top of my head. I’m not saying that they are the best band in the world, but the Richmond, VA quartet is an immensely talented group of musicians and they have crafted a very excellent record in Here/There.
Originally started in 2004 by guitarist Clifton McDaniel and keyboardist Gabe Churray, both students of 20th century music composition, ILAD was completed with the addition of jazz drummer Scott Clark and salsa bassist Cameron Ralston. Knowing this background information about the members is key to understanding where the distinct sounds originate. The jazz is prevalent throughout the record, as is a broad dispersion of electronica. While there are a fair share of tracks like “Magazine” that feature chaotic bursts of instrumental explosion, there is also a healthy dose that exude a predominantly Americana influence, ranging anywhere from straight folk to all-out honky-tonk at times. While it’s nothing new for a band to meld and even alternate genres on a record, the extremes to which ILAD takes this art is nearly unprecedented. Basically, if Sonic Youth, The Band, and Radiohead had a baby, this is the record that it would one day make, packed with dissonance, psychedelia, twang, and electronic nuance.
Opening with a slow build of electronic rock tunes that culminates with the frenetic “Magazine,” Here/There wastes no time getting down to business with experimental, jazz spiked rock. From there things start to trend more towards the traditional end of the ILAD spectrum, taking a linear shift from the psych-folk “Mexico” to the near rockabilly edge of “Blackgold” before settling into “I Just Stopped By,” which comes off as an Iron & Wine/Postal Service hybrid of electronically tweaked folk. Elsewhere the album twists and jumps in all directions, elevating, suffocating, and tossing the listener about. “Lou Dobbs” is an electronic gem that recalls shades of Radiohead at some moments, while “I’m Not Mean” is a dark, industrial piece with haunting muted vocals. The quiet and stripped “”Everyone Hurts (Everyone)” melts beautifully into “Extraordinary Machine,” which begins with a whisper and goes out as an upbeat pop jam. These nuances are the strengths of the record and they continue throughout, from the hypnotic “Everybody” to the quiet, driving percussive gem “December.” Closer “Church” almost acts as a lullaby, playing the listener out and signaling a fitting end to the aural journey that is Here/There.
Here/There is out on July 28th on the band’s own label, SYJIP Records. Check out “Magazine” and “TV Sutra” below and then watch the video of the band performing “Blackgold” from a balcony in their hometown. As I mentioned, I am hesitant to throw out tracks from such a diverse album, but these three do a pretty good job of showing the amount of ground ILAD is able to cover.
