Album Review: Sounds Good

kraM Left’s debut album, Sounds Good, is spiky, sparkly, experimental post punk. But, maybe stranger than you think, so hold on, this is some weird outsider music adventure we’re going on…

Mark Webster is kraM Left, and although he is a veteran of over forty years in the kiwi music industry, nothing will likely prepare you for this collection of sounds and noises. Webster played in the Bombers (as featured on the legendary 81 compilation release from Propeller Records), Flak on Flying Nun, If (based in Amsterdam) and Teeth (when he returned to New Zealand). You’d think with those credentials you might be about to listen to some raw punk music, albeit with some vintage leanings… but, no, you’d be wrong, (although punk is very much part of the sound of this recording, particular in terms of how the bass guitar features).

On many songs the bass enters into an ambient moment and redefines the melody, kick starting the song to build around this newcomer. Songs, if indeed all the eighteen tracks truly are songs at all, are occasionally split in half by the band simply dropping out into silence, only to be brought back into the groove by bass. There are elements of jazz, noise, experimental and ambient overlapping and colliding with one another here, usually in interesting ways, occasionally in less successful or somewhat anticlimactic ways. There is also a definite dance music influence, specifically techno rave culture, expressed in many songs by the prominence of bass when the drums are both played or sampled beneath. The recording as a whole is utterly unpredictable and for that reason it is unique.

Lyrically the songs hint at questioning authority, calling out hypocrisy and commenting on the uncertain nature of the world at present. WTF Is This Shit features the lyrics: “You want the world like you are, We’ve done this all before,” while Slum Portico asks the listener: “You want me to appreciate your greed?” Some tracks are connected (if not reprises of one another) such as Dance 24 and Dance25Klubbed, while other songs operate like part one and two of a larger concept, like Not a Feature I Want and following track A Future I Want. The quirky album features rock instruments, with guitars so effects-laden they sound more like keyboards or synth pads (while John Balled features a trumpet). There is ample use of samples throughout, but not always to create rhythm. It’s unusual to say the least!

Opening track Good To Me is fairly experimental, including accidental noise over an unusual drum beat with guitar noises weaving above. Vocals only arrive to state the title of the song and then they’re gone. Second track Enter Domino is a little more normal with a traditional drum introduction, but there are some truly unusual note choices on the bass when it enters to add to the general sense of unease and uncertainty that pervades the whole record. There are splashes of piano flourishes amongst the unconventional song structure, but when the two vocals (one female joining Mark) state the lines: “Who among you, think it’s funny, that a landlord, takes your money?” the song takes form.

Humans Apart fades in with an organ to build atmosphere, but as with so many tracks yet to come, this is abandoned when a new rhythm comes and transforms the song into a fast-paced punk ditty with a repeating mantra of “unbelievable.” WTF Is This Shit has what sounds like a cello start it off, but by the end of the song a feedbacking guitar has taken centre stage. Too Busy is a nice little commentary on modern life (“Too busy to meet, eat, to get my work done, to have any fun”) but so many of these tracks seem like sketchy ideas for songs not yet fully formed.

An exception to this is You Should Never Have Come which is easily the best, or perhaps most accessible song on the album with a catchy drum part, marching bass and ethereal guitar supplying textures far above. “Tomorrow has a price,” Webster warns in a spoken word drawl that suits his voice. See More Care Less is a more punky, but still bass-driven, composition and has the simplistic, but anthemic refrain: “You think your view is the better view.” Dweeb Reaper is a relaxed number, with a more jazzy, breathy feel. Another stand out track is She Loves The Light, which is mainly instrumental, until the end, and contains a truly epic chord pattern that is unlike anything else on the album. While the chords rise, played firstly by synth-pads and then by synth-strings, a painfully strangled guitar wails in the background. Wordwould is also more dance-music inspired, sounding a little like a long lost Daft Punk song. Album closer The Night That Stuff Went Down has a gorgeous tremolo guitar part over a gentle beat, but once again the bass marches in and redirects the song elsewhere to an unexpected ending.

What to say about Sounds Good? Its unique if nothing else. Does it actually sound good? Well, it depends on what you think good is. Conventional music relies on repetition and that’s on short supply here. While I believe only the most die-hard noise rock enthusiasts will truly enjoy much of what is on offer here, it does make for a recording where you’ll have no idea what is going to happen next sonically. It stands more as testament to the raw expression of the genius behind the work rather than the refining of what is capable. Still, boring it is not.