New Mixtape Muse Miniseries: Music That I Should've Told You About Earlier

Oh my gosh. It's been awhile. Welcome to a new and brief miniseries that I'll be working on for the next week or so, where I provide the reviews for albums that have recently taken a backseat to making sure I graduate from college with something to do and a place to live. March was a great month for music, and I intend to tell you about a few releases that have been blowing up my headphones and stereo lately.

Part 1: Parts & Labor - Constant Future
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Hailing from Brooklyn, Parts & Labor first caught my attention just about four years ago to the day. I can remember a friend (who at the time was deep into noise rock) bringing me a copy of 2007's Mapmaker and basically saying, "Dude, you need to hear this." Sitting in my basement, he popped in the disc and I was completely overwhelmed by "Fractured Skies", the masterful and anthemic album opener. True to the title of their first album, the music was a ground swell of rock, building into a monstrous choral finish out of a initially confusing pit of seething synth lines and drum breaks (the horns just sealed the deal).

Since that day, Parts & Labor have become a four-piece outfit, and then a three-piece again. While the music between was undoubtedly following the themes from Mapmaker that had snagged my allegiance, I can honestly say that I've been waiting for Constant Future longer than I knew.

The band has always somehow fallen into a noise-rock genre, but while Lightning Bolt, Pterodactyl, and their peers deserve a lot of credit for playing constantly on the fringe and nearly out of the realm of comprehension, Parts & Labor always manage to craft a tune that worms its way into my brain and stays there. I find it funny that they haven't acted like more of a gateway noise band for more people, because underneath their atmospheric and chaotic introductions, there's always a well-versed and nifty pop song waiting to burst onto their already colorful compositions.

Continue on after the hop for the rest of the review, tour dates, and the usual linkage.



Constant Future, which was released in early March on Jagjaguwar, pays hommage to the formulas from Mapmaker that worked. The opening trilogy ("Fake Names", "Outnumbered", and "Constant Future") is as strong a work of new noise as it is a remarkable collection of singable tunes. What put Parts & Labor on the map for me was an ability to build a melody out of confusion and mayhem -a good melody. The album opens with a off-kilter drum line and faint airy synths, quickly falling into big drum rolls and pitch-defying keyboard lines, but only for a minute. Before we know it, the verse has hit and the vocals are more than impressive -they fit perfectly into the organized fray of Parts & Labor's unique sound.

While the album doesn't stray too much from the band's strengths, there's a special time and a place for adherence to a formula. When it's as unique as the one that I have come to know and love from Parts & Labor, there's nothing wrong with a collection of songs like this that could all stand alone. The key here is that this noisy-little trio have a dynamic formula, combining the best parts of pop songs and noise rock to create a very accessible and palatable sound. It's hard not to dance (or freak out the people in the library next to you when it's blazing in noise-canceling earbuds that they can't hear).

Thankfully, Parts & Labor are in the midst of a monstrous spring tour in support of the record. They'll be here in Baltimore @ the Golden West Café on April 29 with the impeccable Double Dagger, and Goucher's own thrash-punk foursome, Temors II. 

Constant Future is available now online and in record stores via Jagjaguwar.

US Tour Dates

04/08/11 New York, NY - Cake Shop   w/ Hunters, Zulus, Puffy Ariolas
04/13/11 New Haven, CT - BAR   w/ Jerkogram, Appomattox
04/14/11 Rochester, NY - Bug Jar   w/ Dinner Music
04/15/11 Toronto, ON - Parts and Labour   w/ Child Bite, Neon Windbreaker
04/16/11 Cleveland, OH - Beachland Tavern   w/ Cloud Nothings, Child Bite
04/17/11 Detroit, MI - Lager House   w/ Child Bite, Golden Torso, Pink Lightning
04/18/11 Milwaukee, WI - Cactus Club   w/ Call Me Lightning
04/20/11 Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle   w/ Call Me Lightning, Child Bite
04/21/11 Bloomington, IN - The Bishop   w/ Child Bite, Tammar
04/22/11 Lexington, KY - Cosmic Charlie's   w/ Matt Duncan Band, The Kingston Springs
04/23/11 St. Louis, MO - The Luminary Center for the Arts   w/ Lightning Bolt, Spelling Bee
04/24/11 Memphis, TN - EASTER party at the Hi Tone   w/ Kruxe, Galaxicon
04/25/11 Pensacola, FL - Sluggo's   w/ Per Concussion, Imaginary Air show, Acorns
04/26/11 Atlanta, GA - 529   w/ So So Death, Bambara, White Hills
04/27/11 Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506   w/ Secular Joy
04/28/11 Washington, DC - Red Palace   w/ Meta, HUME
04/29/11 Baltimore, MD - Golden West   w/ Beyond Say, Double Dagger
04/30/11 Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's   w/ Moon Women Europe
05/04/11 Leipzig, DE - Ut Connewitz
05/05/11 Nurnberg, DE - K4
05/06/11 Oberhausen, DE - Druckluft
05/07/11 Lausanne, CH - Le Romandie
05/08/11 Freiburg, DE - Atlantik
05/09/11 Faenza, IT - Clandestino
05/10/11 Marseilles, FR - L'embobineuse
05/11/11 Onet Le Chateau, FR - Le Studio
05/12/11 Lyon, FR - Sonic
05/13/11 Paris, FR - Flech d'Or
05/14/11 Limoges, FR - La Fourmi
05/15/11 Bordeaux, FR - Le Saint-Ex
05/16/11 Lille, FR - La Malterie
05/17/11 Charleroi, BE - Le Vecteur
05/18/11 London, UK - CAMP Basement   w/ Teeth of the Sea
05/19/11 Birmingham, UK - Hare & Hounds   w/ Teeth of the Sea
05/20/11 Brighton, UK - Green Door Store   w/ Teeth of the Sea
05/21/11 Manchester, UK - Ruby Lounge   w/ Teeth of the Sea
05/22/11 Sheffield, UK - The Harley   w/ Teeth of the Sea
05/24/11 Utecht, NL - DB's
05/25/11 Bamberg, DE - Morph Club
05/26/11 Wurzburg, DE - Cairo
05/27/11 Offenbach, DE - Hafen 2
05/28/11 Berlin, DE - Levee Club