13 & God
Bucking the trend of indie heavyweight tagteam wankery, this marriage of German glitch-poppers Notwist and Anticon avant-hoppers Themselves isn't masturbatory (Trans Am vs. Fucking Champs), boring (Tortoise vs. The Ex) or half-assed (Jello Biafra vs. anyone). Conversely, it gives more direction to both groups, and if it doesn't tug heartstrings, it'll at least tug Podcasts.
Some Postal Servicey tape trading and 17 days of Munich bedroom jamming yielded 50 minutes of claustrophic, keyboard-driven indietronica-hop that's lusher than anything to amble out of Anticon and more fun than anything the Notwist have ever gurgled out. 13 & God is all high-pro glow, the 'Twisters loading each track with clinical Warpspeed sputter.
Doseone's nasal Burroughsian Technicolor word puke even gets a proper amount of gloss, making the human crossword puzzle sound disarmingly self-assured. The hip-hop guys inject static rhythms, the melody guys supply song-structures, and their similarities end up blurring the lines completely. Are those distorted drums on "Perfect Speed" by Jel or are they Notwist guys mimicking Jel? Which one of these weirdos brought the Speak And Spell?
These idiosyncratic androids join forces in a way that sacrifices none of their idiosyncrasies and--with Themselves gaining some melody/direction and Notwist picking up some groove/cheerfulness--both are better for it.
- CHRISTOPHER R. WEINGARTEN
CMJ - APRIL 2005
Tracklist
- Low Heaven
- Men Of Station
- Ghostwork
- Perfect Speed
- Afterclap
- Soft Atlas
- Tin Strong
- If
- Superman On Ice
- Walk
