The music of Black Midi defies any categorization. Blending elements of trance, techno, post-punk, and dance, the tunes on the British group's new record, Schlagenheim are exhilarating even if they are somewhat inscrutable. The album, out on Friday via Rough Trade, is one of this summer's most exciting releases, no matter if one understands half of what's going on here or not.
Opener "953" is Wire amped up for a new century, while the more ruminative "Speedway" is discordant, yet lovely. The players here -- Georgie Greep (vocals and guitar), Matt Kwasniewski-Kelvin (vocals and guitar), Cameron Picton (vocals and bass), and Morgan Simpson (drums) -- attack this material with a lot of youthful energy, even if sometimes a listener is apt to get lost in the tumult. On something like "bmbmbm" the chaos is impenetrable, the vocals of Greep recalling those of Mark E. Smith in terms of style in brief bursts, while "Years Ago" is rougher, part-Zappa-freak-out and part-growl-punk. It's an odd cut, but one which, like "Ducter", sounds absolutely nothing like anything else you're going to hear this summer, and which retains a good deal of invention about it. At times on Schlagenheim, like on "Reggae", the bits and pieces that Black Midi are piecing together coalesce into something affecting, even if it's something that suggests a really odd hybrid of math-rock and hardcore. Black Midi are a young band, and for every moment here that doesn't quite work, there are two more that inspire and excite.
Schlagenheim is out on Friday via Rough Trade.
More details on Black Midi via the band's official Facebook page.
[Photo: Dan Kendall]