Home

Imperial China – Methods: EP

Everyone welcome our newest contributor, Julia Conny!  Her first piece is a review on a disc much-beloved in the ancient halls of Aural States’ labyrinthine lair…

Catch their show this Friday July 11th @ the Metro Gallery with Sonadors, Sun Tornado and Sawhorse.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

MP3: Imperial China – “There is no translation”

Methods: is a tumbling combo of post and experimental flavors. DC trio Imperial China are full-strength with their note-bending and stocked case of effects pedals. Post-rock, punk and hardcore, electronica, prog and even, dare I say, grunge are all celebrated and sampled. Slicing through like a house of knives in an earthquake, Methods: practices astute musicianship, expansive ideas of melody and layering, and a sort of fluidity that buff up the whole package.

But when the bass lines bounce of the scratchy riffs on the beginning of “Sirens”, the instrumental tangents are, in an odd way, predictable. Vocalist Brian Porter starts up his sing-speak, hollering like blunt DC visionary, Ian MacKaye or Marc Paffi (Bear Vs. Shark), and it’s almost too easy. The erratic guitar excursions. The pinpoint bounce of the snare. The spacey romanticism and hope on “Space Anthem”. It flows so well, it may flow too well.

But maybe that’s the point.

Read the rest…