Black Moth Super Rainbow: Dandelion Gum (Deluxe Reissue)
When Dandelion Gum was released in 2007, it garnered the strongest reviews of any Black Moth Super Rainbow albums. Four years since its release, it is still highly regarded as the Pittsburgh quartet’s best album. The album gets the deluxe reissue treatment from Graveface Records.
When an album is merely four years old, it is hard to believe it garners a deluxe reissue but Graveface Records manages to add 14 bonus tracks to the album’s already hefty 17 song track listing. The deluxe reissue ends up being 31 tracks that clocks in at just over an hour and 20 minutes. Even huge fans of BMSR might have trouble listening to the album in one sitting (especially if they are not on drugs).
The only reason I mention drugs is because BMSR’s albums seem to be made to be experienced on drugs. The album’s neo-psychedelia is expressed through heavy use of vintage keyboards and odd vocals. The vocals have so much vocoder used on them that the words are incomprehensible; instead the vocals work like another instrument in the band, used to carry melody but largely devoid of meaning.
This makes the music hard to engage with. While I admit that I pay attention to vocal melody and style before I engage with the words of a song, many people engage with lyrics first. Dandelion Gum almost seems to spit in the face of lyricism. Some bands make instrumental music which is to not use lyrics to express their ideas but instead express it through music; BMSR uses words but devalue them to the point where they are just an instrument in the mix.
As someone who writes I feel like I should be offended by this notion, but BMSR make up for this fact by making really great music. The largely electronic music is warm and inviting. It is hard not to listen to the music and not think of Kraftwerk; it sounds retro but yet has an almost futuristic feel to it.
My favorite track is the instrumental “Drippy Eye” which sounds like it BMW sound license it for a commercial ASAP. The track’s downtempo-esque drum beat and moving synth bass evokes immediate images of driving a sleek black vehicle at night for me.
In the end, the album’s length is its major problem. By the time the bonus content hits, it truly feels like extras just added on which makes it hard to listen to the last half hour of the deluxe reissue.
Rating: 7.7/10
MP3: Black Moth Super Rainbow “Drippy Eye”
Buy: iTunes or Amazon
Black Moth Super Rainbow: Dandelion Gum (Deluxe Reissue)
