Nuclear Woods
Seven addictive tracks on the Nuke Woods EP
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Madison band Nuclear Woods' latest EP, Nuke Woods, sounds like shit. It's lo-fi, it was all done live, and often sloppily so. So, why do we continue to listen to this CD from beginning to end, twice a day? For one, bassist Chris Frahm is a one-man rock orchestra, with a combination of poppy, fractured chord progressions, rhythmic hooks, and buzzing tonality.
On “Dandy Angels,” his finger-tapped melody comes off like a distorted Rhodes piano hook. The fuzzy balladry of EP-closer “I'll Leave You With That” sounds as if Randy Newman will begin singing over it through a telephone at any moment. Additionally, the explorative songwriting of “Lost Alien, Now Breathes” begins with spaced-out bass noise that sprawls across a slow drum groove from Brandon Kenney and slowly warps into an adventurous, up-tempo rocker that would sound perfect in an old-school Nintendo game.
Finally, Kenney's feel-based drumming really glues Nuke Woods together. From the danced-up beats of "Last Dance Street," which slow down into a crawling waltz loaded with scattershot drumming, to the tastefully impressive fills that lash out across “Tanner's Last Reconciliation,” Kenney knows how to punch into Frahm's complex, pleasing bass arrangements.
"Flannel Man" by Nuclear Woods
The Nuke Woods EP is available to download for free through the band's MySpace page, or check them out when they play this Saturday at the Project Lodge.
