Post by thesoundmonitor on Jan 6, 2004 22:58:55 GMT -5
DIPLOMAT
The Divine & The Impure
(NiceNoise/MGM) NICE388
There is a beauty within subtlety and nuance that cannot be found elsewhere. It’s an art within itself that the English language can never do justice. And it is no more pivotal than in Diplomat’s latest five-track EP, The Divine & The Impure.
At first the disc goes by with enough appreciation and enjoyment for a return listen, but before you know it repeated listens allow Diplomat to surpass that appreciation stage and start digging into the areas of brilliance and genius.
Opening with a noisy ‘You Smell Nice’ the four-piece come off reminiscent of Fugazi or Tweezer, albeit a bit more spritely. Nat Stones’ vocals are pushed back in the mix – perhaps even too far – with the rhythm section pounding away confidently and freely. The delicate mid-section provides a preview of what is to come further on into the disc before once again spiraling into the maelstrom of noise, feedback and depressive vocals.
This format is revisited in ‘A Dozen Eyes Checking’ though bearing a more down-tempo approach. The rhythm section turns things down during the verses here, which allows Stone’s vocals to really shine. Additional influences such as Trail of Dead and Sonic Youth come to the fore here.
On ‘Yr New Morality’ the band are able to capitalise upon the aforementioned fragility with a strong God Machine influence shining through – and man, I haven’t heard a good God Machine influence for too long! A monotonic moody passage is punctuated with gentle but noisy guitar meanderings, before petering off into the distance. This delicate three minutes sets up ‘Constellations’ perfectly as it follows on with a similar mood though dramatized a bit more. It is here you can pick up on the early, more downbeat Something For Kate influence though it’s not strong enough to pin them down with.
Finishing things off with ‘Treasured Debris’ the band introduce an acoustic experiment backed by a rhythmic steam-train snare-beat. Such twists only solidifies my earlier God Machine comparison, and as the track fades to black one is left with that overwhelming feeling of insignificance, and an equally powerful desire to further investigate Diplomat.
By Warren Wheeler
The Divine & The Impure
(NiceNoise/MGM) NICE388
There is a beauty within subtlety and nuance that cannot be found elsewhere. It’s an art within itself that the English language can never do justice. And it is no more pivotal than in Diplomat’s latest five-track EP, The Divine & The Impure.
At first the disc goes by with enough appreciation and enjoyment for a return listen, but before you know it repeated listens allow Diplomat to surpass that appreciation stage and start digging into the areas of brilliance and genius.
Opening with a noisy ‘You Smell Nice’ the four-piece come off reminiscent of Fugazi or Tweezer, albeit a bit more spritely. Nat Stones’ vocals are pushed back in the mix – perhaps even too far – with the rhythm section pounding away confidently and freely. The delicate mid-section provides a preview of what is to come further on into the disc before once again spiraling into the maelstrom of noise, feedback and depressive vocals.
This format is revisited in ‘A Dozen Eyes Checking’ though bearing a more down-tempo approach. The rhythm section turns things down during the verses here, which allows Stone’s vocals to really shine. Additional influences such as Trail of Dead and Sonic Youth come to the fore here.
On ‘Yr New Morality’ the band are able to capitalise upon the aforementioned fragility with a strong God Machine influence shining through – and man, I haven’t heard a good God Machine influence for too long! A monotonic moody passage is punctuated with gentle but noisy guitar meanderings, before petering off into the distance. This delicate three minutes sets up ‘Constellations’ perfectly as it follows on with a similar mood though dramatized a bit more. It is here you can pick up on the early, more downbeat Something For Kate influence though it’s not strong enough to pin them down with.
Finishing things off with ‘Treasured Debris’ the band introduce an acoustic experiment backed by a rhythmic steam-train snare-beat. Such twists only solidifies my earlier God Machine comparison, and as the track fades to black one is left with that overwhelming feeling of insignificance, and an equally powerful desire to further investigate Diplomat.
By Warren Wheeler