album by threadbaron
The Sound of One Car Crashing sounds like someone with a makeshift recording studio trying to see how much music they can cram into six songs.
threadbaron is largely the work of Samir Z., who handles the vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards, sampling and production, with a few guests adding drums, saxophone, bass clarinet and other sounds.
This is DIY music, but it doesn’t sound small. There’s indie rock, punk, power pop, psychedelia and a whole lot of what I like to call 70s excess. Big guitar solos. Layers of vocals. Keyboards. Saxophone. Strange noises. Melodies piled on top of other melodies. Songs build, drop, change direction and occasionally sound like they might burst at the seams.
“Take It EZ Babe” packs a surprising amount into about two minutes. There’s a great 70s-rock groove underneath guitars, drums, keys and multiple vocal parts.
“Say Goodbye 2 Love” is harder to describe. The whole thing seems to move in circles. There are guitars, keys and all kinds of decorative sounds surrounding a vocal melody that has a little 50s and early-60s pop buried inside it.
“Northstar ★” gets much louder. It’s a raucous, guitar-driven blast of punk and indie rock, with Samir’s vocal occasionally breaking into something much angrier.
“China Steel” stays heavy but becomes more melodic. Samir’s distorted vocal occasionally gives me a little Trent Reznor, while the arrangement piles on sounds until the whole thing feels enormous.
“River Flows in Me” starts in noisy indie-rock territory. There’s a strong melody underneath all the fuzz and a little 70s power pop hiding inside it. And then a guitar solo begins stretching across the song until it starts sounding like something from a completely different era.
“Push” brings the melody back to the surface with a strong beat and an arrangement that keeps building. Multitracked vocals and a saxophone make the song sound larger than life.
The Sound of One Car Crashing rarely seems content to stay where it started. A catchy melody gets surrounded by noise. Indie rock wanders into 70s power pop. A punk song suddenly has an enormous guitar solo.
I found the best way to enjoy all that chaos was to just embrace whatever came around the corner next.
Verdict: Worth a Spin
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