Tilton Johnson
Bandaloop
4.0 EYES
Holy Christ, where do bands like this come from? Nominally a metal act, I guess, but damn, these three Pennsylvania cats are one of the most uncategorizable groups I think I've ever heard. Picture the weird metallic gymnastics of, say, Meshuggah, being played by guys into 70's lite-rock, jazz, and blue-eyed soul (they did a spot-on cover of Hall and Oates' "Sara Smile" on a previous album). Now make the music as taffy-pulling technical as you please, enough to send a Guitar Center full of jaded instructors into we're-not-worthy genuflections - but at the same time, make it rockin', hooky and fun enough that it goes down like cotton candy! I'm too flabbergasted to really pick it apart, but I'm guessing it's because Coinmonster's vocal melodies provide the catchiness, leaving the three mad doctors plenty of room to freak out on their instruments, constructing Frankensteinian mutants of songs that shouldn't draw breath, much less boogaloo - but they do! They do! And this isn't the "prog" of divebombing bumblebee guitar wank and irritating drum solos, but more of a jazzy, playful, "let's see if we can possibly play this in 17/5 time in a chord we just invented while standing on our heads and singing about bears" variety, the kind that is all the more astounding because they make it look so damn easy!
Jon Reider's vocals are this weird double-tracked hybrid, sort of a heavy metal guy trying his hand at crooning, but it works perfectly, providing the balance of melody and grit that these bizarro songs need. "Slow Club" and "There Should Be a Test" stand out as favorites, or at least the songs that made me stare slackjawed at the speakers the most, but I mean it, there's not a dull moment on Tilton Johnson - like I said, the songs are so infectious that you'll be singing along to the choruses almost before you realize the Zappa-esque tendrils of musical dementia wrapping themselves around your legs and pulling you inside the stereo.
All you Bungle/Zorn too-cool-for-school types are hereby ordered to hunt this down, as is anyone into prog, tech-metal, System of a Down, Strapping Young Lad, Cynic... shit, anyone with half a noodle in their skull who wants to hear the best band in three states! Easily one of the best records of 2002 - whatever musical flag you're flying, Coinmonster has already wiped their feet on it and are looking for the next challenge. (Keith Bergman)
Shockwaves CD REVIEWS ISSUE 6 Page 13