IfIHadAHiFi – Nada Surf EP + 3
Almost certainly the loudest record to feature a surfing kitten on the cover.
Milwaukee, WI’s premier noise rock quartet IfIHadAHiFI were probably asking for trouble when they named their last record Fame By Proxy. Since then shuffling 90s pop rock also-rans Nada Surf stole their unwieldy moniker to use as the title for an album of covers. Taking it in their stride, the HiFi decided that turnabout was fair and appropriated the other band’s name as the title of this eight song mini-album. A decade of hard graft in makeshift recording studios, playing untold numbers of shows across North America, a fistful of increasingly accomplished releases and innumerable inter-band skirmishes have steeled this group of Midwestern misfits against such occurrences. IfIHadAHiFi are the perennial Jekyll & Hyde hybrid monster band of the increasingly excellent Latest Flame roster – off-stage warm and friendly geeks, on-stage a whirling fusillade of wood and wire. In an era whereby the supposed purveyors of the independent ethos are collecting Grammys, wallowing in the lucrative festival circuit and fund-driving for questionable vanity-projects via Kickstarter it’s humbling to see bands in the underground putting in the actual work which they’ll never see any credit for.
Throughout last year Wisconsin was blighted by the political machinations and alleged corruption of incumbent Republican Governor Scott K. Walker, around whom controversy has been circling following a much maligned campaign which severely curbed public sector unions’ rights. Since his appointment in January, the political left has been extremely critical of Walker’s continual attempts to prevent healthcare reform and slash the state’s education budget. The Democratic party has highlighted the recall of the Governor as a matter of priority and there has been extensive fund-raising by the left aimed at his removal. Proud Wisconsinites IFIHadAHiFi participated in the protests by recording a searing one-off single to raise awareness and money for the anti-Walker Progressives United PAC. ‘Imperial Walker’ was a rollicking blast of post-hardcore fury, with a characteristically nerdy nod to Star Wars thrown in for good measures. The combination of machine gun drum fills, spidery guitar riffs, synth washes and outrageous FX over-kill instantly brings to mind sadly departed Dayton, OH based band Brainiac, albeit with the phasers set to kill.
Nada Surf EP + 3 is a continuation of the deranged sensory assault which the Hi-Fi have been perfecting over the past ten years or so. Most of their songs are built around the spit-fire drumming of Dr. Awkward, often doubling on vocals along with his similarly palindromed band-mates Yale Delay, Mr. Alarm and Rev Ever – all of whom rotate between guitars, bass and keyboards. This time around the band have teamed up with hard-working fellow Milwaukee based musician Thom Geibel and a host of voice lending, hand-clapping friends to create what essentially amounts to a mini-album of no-holds barred sci-fi tinged noise rock. It might be a credit to the Hi-Fi and a warning to any prospective listeners that a couple of times over the week I was forced to remove the headphones from my ears because it felt like my brain was being microwaved. The sound of the record is so trebly that it occasionally resembles some kind of aural collage of white noise, which remarkably only endears me to what amounts to some of the band’s most immediately memorable songs. In fact, the best moments are when the quartet more or less abandon their slender regard for the listener’s ears and add more and more layers of heavily processed insanity, burying their surprisingly potent vocal melodies in a wash of Day-Glo green distortion.
The ominous bass-line which introduces the storming ‘We Fiddle, You Burn’ has you tentatively waiting with your finger poised on the volume control, awaiting the inevitable barrage of mid-range clamour. After a frantic 90 seconds, Dr. Awkward cracks the snare so hard it seems to set off some kind of synth alarm, which is eventually drowned out by the merciless thrashing of his band-mates. Perhaps ironically given the title, the band seem more at home with the notion of melody, with most songs possessing borderline anthemic gang vocals and the odd vocal harmony. ‘X-13D’ is an uber-hybrid of latter day Brainiac with classic era Six Finger Satellite, albeit with the more danceable aspects of either band stripped away in favour of undiluted noise. The centrepiece of the record is probably the non-stop juggernaut of ascending sonic maelstrom ‘All Hail Magnets’, which combines frenetic call and response vocals with one of the band’s most effective salvos of quasi-vacuumous commotion. The raw-throated hollering of the band is largely inaudible but when the odd phrase makes it through, the lyrics seem to be predominantly pointed diatribes laden with nerd-tastic references to science fiction, pro wrestling and possibly even contentious snack food marketing experiments. Regardless of the specific targets – primarily self-serving politicians and internet conspiracy blowhards alike – the raucous collages of post-hardcore pummelling are more than convincing, demonstrating a band hitting their stride in the loudest way imaginable. They’ll be touring this year, so it’s as good a time as any to catch their infamously chaotic live show. Did I mention don’t stand on the front row? Don’t stand on the front row.
IfIHadAHiFi – Nada Surf EP + 3
2011 – Latest Flame
IfIHadAHiFi Homepage.
IfIHadAHiFi Bandcamp.
Latest Flame Records.
