The Nein - Wrath of Circuits

A really good description of The Nein's music was provided for me by a guy I ran into at one of their shows. He said it was like "Weezer on acid." Not bad…not bad at all. The Triangle-based trio, or in the case of this incarnation quartet, has just released a pretty impressive full-length entitled Wrath of Circuits through Canadian label Sonic Unyon. Singer, guitarist and chief lyricist Finn Cohen has an almost Elvis Costello voice and just as pointed words. There's nothing about chicks or love in these ten songs but rather charged subjects and cynical concepts, i.e.: "Foreign Friendster," in which Finn explores the concept of people like Saddam Hussein or Osama Bin Laden joining the online community with their own blogs. This song also features my favorite line: "I am a man of the people / And the people are food." I guess the content is along the lines of Rage Against the Machine in sensibility but maybe a little more subversive. This is thoughtful stuff, but you can still just get off to it. Joining Cohen are bassist Casey Burns, drummer Robert Biggers and noiseman Dale Flattum. Flattum is the pivot man who joined the other members of the band to add samples, sounds and noises that provide the regular three-piece of guitar, bass & drums with more layers and depth of sound that really set their music apart from your average rock band. There's an indie sensibility, but that's being almost simplistic. The fact that they can be categorized as indie is more a nod to their individuality than that they fall in with garage bands or other bands more typically found these days under that heading. For the sake of these guys, I'd be more inclined to say that "indie" stands for "individual" more than "independent." If I were to have one critical thing to say about Wrath of Circuits it would be more in terms of production than the music itself. There are places where it is obvious that Flattum's parts were simply plunked down on top of the existing track rather than more thoughtfully integrated sonically. But this is only evident in a few parts on a few tracks and doesn't at all detract from the overall effect. This issue is also corrected in their shows (when a good sound man is involved anyway) making them incredibly impressive to see live. Since they don't have a huge machine behind them, it's hard to say whether Wrath of Circuits will get the attention that it deserves, but I'm here to do my part by telling you that it's a really solid release in what has already turned out to be another good year for music. So go hunt it down and give it a whirl. (And if you wanna get a more personal glimpse of the band, check out the interview we have up right now.) [www.thenein.com]