Bittersweet Drive
The first track of Uncle Dig's "Bittersweet Drive" is entitled "Decimation", and the first few seconds suggests taking the title seriously and running for shelter, as an impossibly distorted guitar ekes out an atonal ostinato, but soon a series of semi-related straightforward major chords emerges. There's a detour into a World Beat feel, and more tastefully chorused clean guitar, plus more Zappa-tinged aggro leads. A bit surprisingly, at the end this first tune resolves into a English garden of Floyd keys and vocal pads. Fair enough. So, I'm thinking, we're in for a pleasant though not altogether groundbreaking quasi-fusion outing with some prog touches.
I couldn't have been more wrong. The second tune launches with...banjo? Then suddenly, we have college rock! A pleasingly whiny voice, hilarious lyrics, and more banjo in the breaks. "Crush All Your Diamonds" coming up next continues the trend, though it's much more understated (reminiscent of Camper Van Beethoven, or even more their offshoot Monks of Doom) and nuanced with strange vocal processing and interesting key changes.
The surprises continue with "West of House". The opening hearkens more to the first track, but bringing in a touch of techno...hmm...this could go anywhere. Some screamingly fizzed guitar, then a settling into a really nice reggae-punk groove, a la the Clash's finer moments. Ah, but we're not gonna have any Joe Strummer declarations, instead, there are odd scraps of chopped-up found speech, feedbacking guitar leads, hysterical vocals, and maybe even some trumpet, which finally all converge into a bloody harmonic soup on top of the skank. Great track.
What could be next, in "Rowers Keep Rowing"? Accordion, naturally, and more banjo. Then a bit of Morricone spaghetti Western, dusted with Klezmer. Cool.
Then there's "Scuttle the Yacht", with more clean-and-chorused guitar, touching on the first track a bit, but now featuring a House beatbox. Then power chords emerge, trading off with the more relaxed sections that echo the opening.
"Something's Missing" gives a shout back to number three, quirky alt-rock with a dub bassline, live drumming and a hushed, blissed-out vocal reminiscent of XTC's Andy Partridge trying not to wake up the neighbors. My favorite sort of guitar solo ends it, careening off the tracks and short enough to be perfect.
The by-now shockingly straight-ahead "Mama Said" makes me think a bit of the Dead's acoustic numbers, or the more recent (I hate to say it) Phish in a reflective moment. There's a dread-filled false ending halfway through, which returns to a high-volume bridge, then a few more downbeat chords to wind out the obviously heartfelt number.
The last track, "Division of Natural Light", is hyper-modern with its tweezed-and-reversed samples and snatches of electronica, but the moody clean guitar underlies it with real feeling. Tasteful live percussion comes in, then some spacious bass, but never complicating the tune. It's quite lovely.
This collection went everywhere I didn't expect it to. I have to admit that the opening wasn't the most promising, and in fact is probably my least favorite track here, yet it's not without its charms and is more interesting in context. And after that, my appreciation elevated to sheer enjoyment, even fascination. (The fact that several tracks ended up reminding me of the aforementioned Monks of Doom, one of my favorite oddball groups, doesn't hurt my biased opinion). Knowing that this well-realized album was written and recorded in the space of a month is pretty damn amazing.
More info
Full download (zip file) Free!!
Uncle Dig blog (with much detail on this release)