(09-29-06)
CULTUREBUNKER
INSTRUMENTAL QUARTER - "Traffic Jam" - Sickroom Records [Sept 06]
Goddamn these lazy motherfuckers who couldn't even be bothered to find a singer… Just kidding. This is some great instrumental music, and although I did not understand what their bio was talking about, I did glean that this band is from Saluzzo, Italy, and I liked their mention of "fluttering birds and fiery sunsets." So, without a Halfordian frontman grabbing the mic, you weenies are lost. Let me say, then, that IQ are not as opaque as many of the instrumental sound hives emanating from Toronto, and they're not as spacey as their Scottish kin Mogwai. Instead, IQ rely on fairly organic sounding instruments and arrangements that might remind you of Explosions In The Sky and Always The Runner. The reverbed guitar on "Walking To the 5tth" makes me feel more drunk than I am, however. I'll decide when to distrust my ears, thank you very much. On the whole, IQ are an atmospheric band that paints in glowing colors. These instrumentals possess a vibrant life of their own, whereas a lot of instrumental music seems to be a half-completed thought relying on absent visuals. These songs are expansive and dreamy while firmly rooted in the sounds of post-indie rock. At times they uptempo their sound "Water Guns" and deliver a more intensive math-rock acousticality, and sometimes they strip it way back and allow violin to take over with a warm melodic vocal line "Illinois Breakfast II." In short, I like this sound a lot. --- Prof. Lionel Mutton, PhD.
