Songs by strung out singles

With their second-straight diverse, distinctive, well-written, and well-produced LP, the often mighty Feverdream prove that their debut Satellite release, You Don't Know Us, But We Know Where You Live, was no fluke. Once again, the quartet uses its two talented guitarists, Tim James and David Wroe, to whip up a chunky, whirring wall of sound, ranging from schizophrenic leads to fleshy power blasts. Their din is as mucky and ill-tempered as it is strangely floating, as if Spaceman 3, Jesus & Mary Chain, and 1988 My Bloody Valentine had made simpler, punkish guitar pop records. In the middle of the lashing riffs and brash pyrotechnic effects, bassist Ewan McArthur's dusty, gruff voice chisels out melodies as good as they are intense, with well-placed harmonies forming purposeful hooks. Whether the happy pop of "You Don't Know Us," the soaring chorus of "Autumn," the post-Ride dream pop of "Wickerman," the insistent stomp of "Throwaway," or the neo-dub of "Sub Spirit," the material is as interesting as it is ever changing its stripes. You may have heard that the problem with independent-minded rock now is that it all sounds too familiar. Bands don't experiment with sounds in good studios, or fail to write absorbing songs, or lack the sort of passion that Feverdream thrive on. Too many find a too-narrow sub-genre niche and do it to death. Or contrarily, they dabble so much, so haphazardly, that they have no real group dynamic. The existence of bands like Feverdream puts an end to the bore that it's all been done before, or that we should accept myopic mediocrity. This is an LP as invigorating as it is fully formed. (920 E. Colorado #151, Pasadena, CA 91106)