- The first release on Jonathan Galkin's new label highlights everything vital and unique about Black Dice's hair-raising experimental electronics.
- Black Dice, one of the most definitive bands in DFA Records' storied roster, released their latest album, Mod Prog Sic, on DFA cofounder Jonathan Galkin's new label FourFour Records. It's their first full-length of new material in nearly a decade, infusing their oddball experimentalism with a new sense of rhythm. Still, it's a far cry from dance music, existing in a nowhere-everywhere land—a liminal space that contains the proto-screamo energy of the band's roots, the abrasiveness of noise, the hypnotism of psych rock, the bodily feel of dance music and the disturbed playfulness of early-'00s dance punk. The latter was arguably the Brooklyn outfit's most illustrious era, though they never fit in with the pop-leaning styles of their bigger contemporaries like Yeah Yeah Yeahs or Animal Collective nor did they slot into the noisy scene defined by acts like Lightning Bolt. Bands like Black Dice carved out their own corner, rooted in a certain experimental rawness and a crude improvisational feel. Mod Prog Sic is the latest stop on this journey, taking the band to an evolved new place for a deeply satisfying blend of primal expression and visceral pleasure.
Mod Prog Sic is loopy in more ways than one. It's a smorgasbord of modular synth, analog drums, guitar distortion and a range of less classifiable sounds, smashed together into eccentric, collage-like rhythms. Analog loops induce a kind of mad-hatter spellwork, like we've stumbled upon a tea party only to realize the host has sinister intentions. The LP's strangeness is captivating, and while it never sacrifices the primitive abrasiveness that Black Dice do so well, it feels much catchier this time around. These tracks are both complex and rudimentary, at times sounding unrehearsed or off the cuff and marked by a loose revelry.
Many of the tracks on Mod Prog Sic twist and turn unexpectedly, and the album is riddled with sometimes riotous surprises. Playful hi-hats appear out of nowhere in "Downward Arrow," brightening an otherwise dark, brash track that reminds me of the jerky-but-danceable energy of Autechre's Warp Tapes 89-93. On another standout, "White Sugar," the vocals oscillate between eerily chopped up and groovy, the kind of sound that would make you nod your head at a noise show instead of forcing yourself to move to arrhythmic blasts of sound—another example of the unique rhythms here. Then it unexpectedly devolves into mayhem, as if to say, "Oh, you thought Black Dice was getting soft? Think again."
Then there are almost danceable tracks like "Swinging" and "Jocko," filled with bounce and grit, making deranged rhythms their central focus. The former is a big hitter ready to throw drunken punches. Sloppy percussion creates a slowed-down codeine crazy feel, offsetting the pain of the noisy jabs. These more brazen cuts are buffered by zany goofiness elsewhere. Tracks like "Big Chip" are cartoonishly hypnotic, as non-linguistic sputterings and wah-wah effects lend a psych-rock feel without fully giving into rock music.
The album also includes three "Scramblehead" interludes, short cuts that eschew rhythm and resemble some of Black Dice's earliest, best-known works (Beaches And Canyons, Creature Comforts). It's as if these tracks are meant to intentionally skew whatever narrative was beginning to form, bringing the album back to its natural state of lawlessness. Mod Prog Sic is an impressive release that shows Black Dice are still as good as they ever were, even 20 years after what might be called their heyday. They're cornerstones of a longstanding renegade scene, and they've been able to establish themselves by continuing to cultivate a certain genre-defying bizarreness and authenticity. Black Dice are in it for the long haul, and Mod Prog Sic is proof that their brand of boisterous experimentalism still holds an important place in electronic music.
Tracklist01. Bad Bet
02. Tuned Out
03 .Swinging
04. Scramblehead
05. White Sugar
06. Plasma
07. Big Chip
08. All The Way
09. Scramblehead II
10. Jocko
11. Downward Arrow
12. Scramblehead III