Two years ago today I made a post about a little band called Menomena and their debut album I Am The Fun Blame Monster. The review was a piece of crap. I probably rushed it and it’s evident that the writing suffered from my lack of dedication. These things happen. The album, however, was great and went on to become one of my favorites of 2005 (even though it was released in 2004).
Menomena’s next album Under An Hour came out in late 2005 but failed to capture my attention. Unlike Fun Blame Monster, Under An Hour was an instrumental dance experiment record and completely devoid of the unconventional pop aesthetic that that really set them apart from the rest of the indie rock art house crowd.
Menomena returned yesterday with their third album Friend And Foe and with it returned to the unconventional pop aesthetic that many of us at eLarceny had grown to love.
For the uninitiated, Menomena is not your typical indie rock group. These Portland, Oregon rockers deal in thick, driving beats while layering melody, noise and vocal harmony on top, deconstructing and then reconstructing musical convention. Do you get it? Want me to draw you a picture? Here:
Actually, I should make a chart that looks more like this: I give you the Pop Index. I’d tell you what kind of chart it is but I purged everything I learned in Economics 101 a long time ago.
Web Site: Here
Stuff to Sample: From Menomena’s Friend And Foe “Wet And Rusting†and “Muscle N Floâ€
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