Cafeteria Brutalia (CD - 2007)

Personnel: Phil Becker (drums).

Audio Mixer: Philip Manley.

Recording information: Lucky Cat, San Francisco, CA (08/10/2006).

Photographer: Phil Becker.

Something of a second-tier supergroup (the four members have day jobs in various second- and third-tier post-hardcore bands in the Bay Area), Triclops! debut with the skronky, noisy Cafeteria Brutalia. If the nonsensical album title isn't the first clue, the quotidian randomness of the titles of these four lengthy songs ("Bug Bomb," "Jewel of Oakland," etc.) suggests the casualness inherent in this side project. That relative lack of pretension is a good thing, because Triclops! are working in a style of music rife with bombast. Cafeteria Brutalia is post-Slint math rock with the aggression of hardcore (enjoy Johnny Geek's tightly wound yelp of a voice) and the sonic restlessness of fellow noisy experimentalists like the Jesus Lizard and Mr. Bungle. If they were more tightly plotted, these four loose, jammy tunes (which according to the liner notes were recorded in a single one-day session) could easily fall victim to any of the many pitfalls of this form of music: ponderous Ayn Rand-inspired lyrics, dorky screamo vocals, showboating time-signature shifts that do nothing to move the songs forward, overly busy drumming, that sort of thing. As it is, however, this is an admittedly minor but enjoyable half-hour bash by four experimentally minded musicians blowing off some noise rock steam, recommended as long as it's approached with an appropriate lack of expectations for greatness. ~ Stewart Mason minimize