(12-01-06)

Instrumental Quarter

Traffic Jam
Sick Room Records
Apparently their founding member has roots in Saluzzo, Italy, which explains why their recent tour has been split between that country and the US. However, with my limited knowledge of contemporary Italian music, I have no real understanding of how this origin fits or doesn’t fit with the sound of Traffic Jam.

What I can say is that Instrumental Quarter plays a kind of music which I'll call smooth jazz for cool people born after 1975. What do I mean by this?

Sometimes I feel like I'm listening to quality smooth jazz, other times I feel like I'm hearing another touching–if somewhat unoriginal–Sigur Ros derivitive. The music is more easily accessible when compared with atmospherica like Gregor Samsa or Boards of Canada. Something very immediate and concrete–like a familial suburban sensibility for dinner-time background music–runs throughout, making the record seem much less ethereal than the boys from Iceland. Song titles like "Lost On My Desk", "Water Guns", and "A Beautiful Shopping Day" add a richly pedestrian mystique of strip malls, office jobs, and homemakers.

Most of the musicianship is fantastic, demonstrating a quiet intensity, a complexity beyond vague intension. The slow, baroque guitar work really stands out, though there are tracks like "The Black & White Movie Set" where percussion nearly takes over.

Ideally, I would listen to this record while solemnly decorating my new flat in Turin with giant neo-minimalist paintings of highways and front lawns.

-Erik Stinson

Source The Philler