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Mike Jedlicka: A Movie Without Pictures Listening to the seven-song EP A Movie Without Pictures, one might imagine Mike Jedlicka fell asleep with the entire Marumari canon playing repeatedly through his headphones the night before he recorded his own tracks. The strongest piece is the manic overture “Hippity Hop” whose opening music box rhythms grow ever denser as drums, noises, and child-like singing are added. This combination of bright sparkle and skipping drum beats segues eventually into darker electronic tonalities and ominous undercurrents. The song is aptly titled, a carnivalesque wonderland of playful, upbeat electronic pop. Also memorable is “Preachin'” which features a pretty oboe melody and an appealingly uncluttered ending. Unfortunately, the rest of the EP doesn't impress as much. The second piece is a collage-like smattering of pianos and field noise, while “Storming the Gates” spotlights rippling Marumari beats once again but in a song that's ultimately mercurial and unmemorable. Jedlicka's major misstep lies in layering his arrangements a little too enthusiastically. There's a promising woodwind melody in “Woundup Toy” but it's only faintly audible beneath the distracting voices and grinding guitar, and the melancholy tones in the closer “Couch Expedition” are needlessly overlaid by extraneous bells and voices. Though their sounds are superficially similar, his music lacks the finesse of Marumari's, and Jedlicka would be wise to adopt a less cluttered approach with a greater focus on melody and space rather than density. March 2005
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