Talker

U.S. Maple - Talker

Talker
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Music CD Cover

Artist: U.S. Maple
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1999-06-08
Music Label: Drag City
Soundtracks:
  1. Bumps and Guys
  2. Running from Kabob
  3. Go to Bruises
  4. More Horror
  5. Apollo, Don't You Crust?
  6. Breeze, It's Your High School
  7. Stupid Deep Indoors
  8. So Long Bonus

Free Music Notes for Talker

Free Music Review: Grows on You...
Hit: 5 Stars

I saw US Maple live in Minneapolis about two years ago and the show still remains with me. Their songs are not "noodling" but are, in fact, precisely executed and conceived. Many songs on this album were reproduced brilliantly on stage. These guys are the real, abstract art-rock deal. They are deftly skilled on their instruments. Their music is at a stage similar to a watchmaker with a fully dismantled watch: every individual element is distinctly removed and remote, but somehow fit into a larger idea. The space in this music, and what it evokes still fascinates me, and I've picked up many great guitar licks from listening to Talker.

There are far more pretentious Chicago art-rock bands doing much less interesting stuff (90 Day Man comes to mind). Arguments utilizing the "esoteric rock addicts -- have to be different" tag on this music is casting off an essentially confrontational and energizing set of musical ideas that will only become more appreciated over time. The strong reaction US Maple elicit from listeners, either live or on recording, can only, in my opinion, be categorized as a choosing of sides in thewar over what the aesthetic of underground rock music should be. U.S. Maple rock. Bottom line. They are a slowed down, spread out, dilution of the medium. To deconstruct the medium only serves to create a broader understanding of its individual parts.

The music may not be pleasant, but not all art is pleasant.

Talker Poster

On U.S. Maple's third CD, Talker, Chicago's avant-garde pranksters display a particularly unorthodox approach toward indie rock. Boasting a singer, two guitars, and a drummer (no bassist!), the quirky quartet unleashes a shambling, arrhythmic sound that defies convention. Vocalist Al Johnson literally bleats, moans, and gurgles while the guitars of Mark Shippy and Todd Rittman scrape metallically and hum with low-end feedback. Despite (or perhaps because of) their nonmelodic approach to song form, U.S. Maple are an engaging ensemble. Their use of traditional instrumentation in an untraditional fashion harks back to early Pere Ubu, vintage Captain Beefheart, and other insurgent rock deconstructionists from days gone by. While just over 30 minutes long, Talker is filled with enough strange music to last you a lifetime. --Mitch Myers

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