By Thom Kudla
What is a percolator? Most people contend that a percolator has something to do with making coffee by boiling water. At www.percolatormusic.com, the Chicago band Percolator offers an interesting and elaborate creation myth. Going into that will only confuse the issue; let’s just say the band Percolator lures ears with the frenetic energy of a coffeepot percolating. (Translation: Listening to Percolator is like enjoying a good cup of coffee, that is, if you love coffee.)
In 2008, Percolator first released an LP, “Man Is Not a Bird,” and then an EP, “Narcoleptic Tongues.” In Primus fashion, the second track of “Bird,” a chaotic blast of energy called “Eye Contact,” boldly sets the stage for the heavy, skittish bass and crunching guitars of the short track, “(attack of the elf man),” off the “Narcoleptic Tongues” EP. Whereas that EP represents a rawness similar to Doug Martsch’s early work in Treepeople, complete with wild guitar riffs scattered amidst dissonant vocals as in the song “Empty Calories,” Percolator’s full-length LP, “Man Is Not a Bird,” is a much more refined recording, offering a more polished sound, much like Built to Spill, as with the stuttering strumming in the song “Series of Portraits.” This album strikes a tempered balance between playful guitar work, clever experimentation, and sophisticated melody. Mostly absent from “Man Is Not a Bird” are the eerily hypnotic undertones of songs like “Minerky Bill” off the latest release, “Narcoleptic Tongues.”
Emanating from the crisp harmony, harmonica included, of “Shantytown” is the passion and fun of a band early in its career, excited to be playing music together.
Its cascading notes call to mind the song “We Walk” from R.E.M.’s 1983 debut full-length album, “Murmur.” Percolator’s joy in playing together is contagious. The consciously lazy chorus of “Dry” gets stuck in your head – and you definitely don’t mind it. Taking a mellow break remindful of Modest Mouse’s more folkish spurts, “Watershed” effectively adds tastes of ukulele and accordion to back up the deliberately lackadaisical high/low vocal contrast. There are times when Percolator seems on the verge of ushering in some much-welcomed darker Modest Mouse infused chord progressions or pseudo-tortured eccentric vocals, but then the band keeps things pleasant. Of course, this amicable and bright tendency isn’t altogether detracting, as it’s part of the band’s charm; however, in consideration of the band’s “Helter Skelter” cover from its 2007 EP, “The Doctor Professor Television,” it’s apparent that Percolator can play something heavier and darker (even for a Beatles cover) with much success, especially if the vocalists are willing to temporarily shed lighthearted posturing.
Lyrically, Percolator’s music is suffused with grotesque imagery, exacting wit, and scientific lingo. Hidden among the explicit sexual tension of “Safeward” is a wise, literary perceptiveness, as guitarist Philip Bertulfo relieves his frustration, sardonically bellowing, “Would you listen now?/The seas might drain/and the trees might scream/and machines might dream. But you?/No. you'll never change, no.” In the third track from “Man Is Not a Bird,” called “Prepared for Disaster,” guitarist Matt Collander – with a pessimistic certainty reminiscent of Thom Yorke urging us not to “get any big ideas, because they’re not going to happen” – cracks his voice as he warns, “If you are prepared for disaster,/you are already wrong, you are already wrong.”
Later in the album, Percolator gives a nod to They Might Be Giants as it relishes in its brainy and goofy inclinations with the song “Scientists Living in the Woods,” the title of which says it all. Then the mad-professorial nature of “Grisly Severed Arm” finds the band, much like Joan of Arc, fully experimenting with absurd lyricism and curiously juxtaposed tone and tempo, relaying an almost-Lynchian notion, calmly humming, “We found a grisly severed arm in the backyard/back behind the shed, it must've been there for some time./We waited for an armless man to come lay claim/to his missing limb, we never heard from him.”
In sum, Percolator bubbles with the musical stylings of Built to Spill, the oddball humor of They Might Be Giants, and the esoteric wit of Joan of Arc. While an energy likened to Ghosts & Vodka and The Owls keeps Percolator armed with a Kinsellasesque self-awareness, there are moments when a young R.E.M.'s melancholy and melody breaks through such former jubilant, bright goofiness. Percolator is currently on tour in the Midwest. Its albums can be downloaded for free at the official Percolator Web site. Visit www.percolatormusic.com for more information about the band, tour dates, free downloads, and a Single of the Month from its forthcoming EP, “The Illegally People.”
ARTIST: Percolator
ALBUM: “Man Is Not a Bird”
LABEL: Self-released
LIST PRICE: Free (download at www.percolatormusic.com)
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