Psychon: Apocalypse Has Been Dubbed the Weekend Pill
Scarcelight Recordings/Narrominded

Apocalypse Has Been Dubbed the Weekend Pill is the first Psychon disc by the Dutch collective of Lars Meijer, Jantijn Prins, and Coen Polack, though the group previously issued six discs under the name Psychon Troopers (apparently, the name change paralleled a move away from improvisatory emphasis to a tighter compositional focus). Recorded over a two year span, Psychon's joint Narrominded-Scarcelight release is a svelte electronic-based six-tracker that checks in at just less than forty minutes. The fact that the unusual track titles originated from spam-mail subject headers is telling, as the group brings the same open-minded receptivity to its mercurial and episodic material. In fact, while moments of post-rock, glitch, pop, folktronica, ambient, and blues appear throughout the album, the group's experimental sensibility and stylistic resourcefulness suggests a kinship with early Matmos if anything.

There are some good moments here. The group proves itself capable collagists on the opener “King Backwards,” something of a hip-hop-post-rock patchwork as it flits restlessly from one mood to another: a gloomy opening theme, brighter uplift brought on by piano, acoustic guitar, and angelic choirs, hints of scratchy hip-hop, blurping synth noodling, even some subtle gospel-soul in the outro. “Zoom at the Professors” is most memorable for its aggressive post-rock section of slamming drums and fuzz guitar, while “Three Men, a Big Truck and a Piece of Art” is notable for its mystery soundtrack ambiance and owly glitch episodes. Given its nine-minute length, it's not surprising that “Chairman of the Bored (No Office Necessary)” takes its shapeshifting jones to such an extreme: when was the last time you heard field recordings, gamelan percussion, razor-edged guitar phasing, glockenspiels, and skuzzy crackle inhabit the same song? Still, like the album in general, the piece maintains interest throughout but, as is often the case with such ADD-afflicted material, it rarely stays in any one place long enough for it to lodge itself deeply in one's memory.

February 2005