A Frames – “Black Forest ” – [Sub Pop Records]

Choppy noise-rock from Seattle trio. Up front is a deadpan singer who is also an amazing guitarist– slashing and precise. Behind that is some solid drum-pounding and a huge crunchy bass. They also toss in a few bits of drum machine for a more mechanized feel. Songs are about civilization gone wrong, especially our overtechnologicalization, which we are reminded will lead us inevitably to Armageddon. We’re on a train without an engineer and we’re hurtling toward oblivion. I saw a review describing these guys as making “fucked music for a fucked world” and that sounds about right. Track 10 is a tale of death aboard a wounded submarine (“‘voices screaming, sinking sinking, pressure building, lost propulsion, cabins filling?”) and somehow they make the damned thing almost catchy. Tracks are 1 – 4 minutes long and every one of them is too short if you ask me. Music full of hooks? the kind that’ll gouge you.