dd/mm/yyyy - Black Square
Strong, creative, versatile, fresh, very dense.
Unfortunately highly underrated album (at least by the mainstream media such as pitchfork and popmatters). The album is an incredible grower. It’s challanging since it confronts you with, on first listen, seemingly too many ingredients. But once you open your ears and mind you notice that it’s not just coherent but dense and dynamic to a nearly hypnotic level.
The reviewers wrestle with too many comparisons as well, from Zappa to Mae Shi. However, they all tend to be a bit of a forced attempt to reduce dd/mm/yyyy to a bunch of kids who cannot handle their influences and who are too lost in their record collection. A close listen nevertheless reveals that this impression is entirely misleading, since dd/mm/yyyy already found their own unique voice and revitalize rather than copy their influences into a fresh new mix. There are not too many bands out there who are able to do so: that is to handle successfully their influences which are rooted in a well-sorted record collection, and not to fall for a new revivalism of yet another indie/punk-subgenre, but rather to focus on releasing a vital record with energy in the here and now.
