Dismembered Sound Booth has totally blown me away with their debut “All Are Friends Our Dead.” And it’s not because of their Fall-esque use of are/our (which I’m pointing out specifically for you grammar nerds). This 25-track album is astounding in its creativity and breadth; I’d go so far as to call it their “London Calling” or their “White Album.” Not too shabby for their first album.
It starts off strong with the dynamic 1-2-3 punch of “What’s the Point of Having Children,” “Favourite Ways to Die” and “Looking for Lighters.” At this point during my first listen I was thinking I was going to hear an album full of (sometimes darkly) humorous lyrics and catchy energetic tunes. But what’s this? Track four surprised me with the indie pop guitar and dreamy vocals of “Priceless.” It turns out this is a bit of foreshadowing for the rest of the album, which keeps the unexpected turns coming.
Rather than discuss this track-by-track, I’m going to strongly encourage you to explore on your own. However, I will mention a few of my favorites:
– “G4S” is a driving industrial tune with yelled vocals and a relevant social message.
– “Chatline” seems like it’s eavesdropping on an “adult” phone call, but then gets into free association poetry territory. So it’s not what you think at first…or is it?
– The early-80’s electronic pop sound of “Kettle” evolves into something pretty intense for a song about, well, a kettle.
– “Perfect” sounds like a lost Chris & Cosey song.
And if all this is not enough, the final track is a remix of “G4S” by none other than Mark Stewart (yes, of The Pop Group). I expected he would take the noise on this one up to 11, but instead it turns out to be a deconstruction of the track and very different than original.
Oh, and one more thing. Not only is the music impressive, but DSB has been adding videos for many of the tracks to their YouTube channel (including the two below). No matter where you fall on the musical interest spectrum, the sound and vision on display here is incredible.