I Love You - Drone, Drugs, and Harmony

Albums

Kansas City’s best kept secret is a band that creates music that is good. Quite good, in fact, and a welcome breath of fresh air in an independent music scene dominated by musicians situated on either coast. The band’s latest album, Drone,

Drugs, and Harmony, is a triumphant battle cry, an enthusiastic amalgamation of influences ranging from late-Talking Heads to African pop and post-punk.

This is most evident on the lead track, “March of the Dead,” full of spastic drumming and guitars reminiscent of post-punk leaders The Fall. The groups vocals are youthful, at times winsome, though the eclectic rhythm strewn in a variety of time structures makes the song. On “Making Out to Make It Big,” band members display their knowledge of African pop and give nod to musicians like Fela Kuti with a darker-tinged piece full of vocals entrenched with an overeager sense of yearning.

And as per the title, the group incorporates their love of drone aesthetics with a classic dub beat on “Pigs on Horses.” The dub literally slows down the cohesive structure of the album. Overall, it seems misplaced in the track listing, though it doesn’t take away from its enthralling nature, evocative of a cataclysmic, post-apocalyptic yelp.

But the one stalwart on the album seems to be “Myth of Gold,” as the aesthetic falls flat, with a spastic combination of off-kilter, off-beat piano keys, a formal 4/4 rhythm structure, and the band’s vocals which are more jarring than wonderfully eclectic like on the rest of the album. The song begins to come together as the track progresses, with the introduction of the characteristic post-punk guitar riffs, but it’s hard to dismiss the strange piano instrumentation which seems almost confrontational. With that said, however, the album proves more strong than weak, especially regarding its debut status, and looks to indicate a promising future for the duo.

Label: Self-Released
Release Date: 2008

-Britt Julious

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