The Party Of Helicopters, Space…And How Sweet It Was (Troubleman Unlimited) 9
At a time when guitars seem to have fallen out of fashion, it's a nice change of pace to hear someone like The Party Of Helicopters, even if they could easily blend in with the indie rock pack of 988. Not a bad time to be in, though. The Pixies were brand new, Dinosaur Jr. were still a hot live band and even Soul Asylum rocked. Meandering vocal melodies with non-stop guitar riffs, with hints of prog and metal thrown in. The relentless guitars recall MX-80 Sound at their most hyper kinetic. Melodies foreshadow the type of stuff that Swervedriver would do. Oh wait, I forget it's 2002, not 1988. Did I mention the guitars? Damn there's a lot of guitars. The first CD is only 22 minutes. Fortunately there's another CD (only 17 minutes -- couldn't they conserve some aluminum and combine them?), originally a limited edition The First Two Years Of Conquering The Tundra. The twelve minute "The Conquering" does the best job or approximating (1988 era, of course) Sonic Youth than And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead. Just imagine how popular they would be if they reigned their sound into three minute chunks with concise hooks and choruses. Oh wait, someone already did that, never mind. Just keep those guitars coming.
