MOG

Parts & Labor, a Brooklyn band known for balancing crazy noise and melodic hooks, put out one of my very favorite albums of last year in Stay Afraid...and they're back just about exactly 12 months later with another very strong CD called Mapmaker. This one, their fourth, is much more melodic and song-structured than previous and to me, the cut that made it all fall into place, was the Minutemen cover, "King of the Hill."

Here's start of the review, up at Dusted today:

"The balance has shifted. Up until now, Parts & Labor has perched precariously on a fulcrum of noise and rock anthemry, shifting weight like a kid riding a seesaw, but remaining tipsily in the middle. With their fourth full-length, Mapmaker, the Brooklyn trio slides off the center, their knob-twiddling, volume-intensive, politically-charged song structure slamming down on the arena rock side, with a resounding thwack. The drums, played again by Christopher Weingarten, are less the chaotic blitz of Lightning Bolt this time, more the ritual pomp of the Constantines. The singing, split as before between Dan Friel and BJ Warshaw, is sweeter, louder in the mix, lyrics intelligible and, here's the scary word, accessible. The noise is still a factor, flaring in waves, exploding in the corners, but it is no longer allowed to romp all over the choruses. If you were thinking, 'Sugar, not Hüsker Dü' with last year's Stay Afraid, Mapmaker will only confirm your hunch.

"And yet, this is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, if you've been looking for huge rock hooks, outsized drum beats, hummable melodies – the kind of big radio rock that went out with human DJs – Mapmaker is your record. Opener 'Fractured Skies' sets the tone, its pounding drums and electronic squawk-and-drone giving way to a big modal melody, and exploding with brass (yes, a trumpet and a trombone on a P&L record) at the end. 'Brighter Days' is even more melodic in the chorus, more a dead ringer for Sugar, with only a brief explosion of synth and drums mid-cut to remind you of P&L's bomb-throwing past. 'Visions of Repair,' maybe the best song on the album, is downright catchy, each verse culminating in the triumphant, 'We've got to tear...it...down/Build it up again.' This song -- like much of the album -- works on a very large canvas, building fist-pumping, heart-pounding climaxes into its choruses." (the rest is here: http://www.dustedmagazine.com/reviews/3593)

Here's an MP3 of "Fractured Skies" http://www.scjag.com/mp3/jag/fracturedskies.mp3

And here, if you're interested in last year's news, is a piece I wrote about Parts & Labor's Stay Afraid for Neumu. http://www.neumu.net/datastream/index.shtml#07