THE DESTRUCTION OF SMALL IDEAS

After seeing 65daysofstatic live and buying this CD I have felt compelled to write a review. Other reviewers on the site have said that this CD is a step away from their sound and that it is for some reason of less value, I dissagree, to me this CD feels like a natural progression for the band. On this disc 65 has succesfully begun the transition out of their early noise/breakbeat sound and have moved into a more complex and melodic sound. In fact this disc has an amount of melody, technicality, variation, and origianallity that it is set apart from the regular pack of Post rock bands.

I really like the consept of this album (note that it is a loose consept and not a story) The consept is based around the idea that the music industry is failing and that 65 is the only band that can stand up to the test of time, and that in the future technology will all dissapear and music live on, because it was recorded on wax. (ok, so I dont understand it at all, its still really cool and overly pretentious.)

When We Were Younger and Better: A perfect start to the album, begins verry dissonant and sounds a bit like a throwback to their Fall Of Math days, but then goes into some beautifull sincopated melodies that have nothing noisy about them at all. This song really shows how 65 have become better songwriters, and unlike most post-rock they use a progressive style structure and go through different parts and melodies in the song they also change signature and tempo in ways that you dont see every day. The violin is also a nice touch. The buildups on this song are great and its nice that they dont last for an hour each like some bands. The piano outro on this song sends chills up my spine!!!

A Failsafe: Sounds verry math-rock, on this song the breakbeat influence is verry noticable, but the classical influence is almost as prevalant, this song feels like a classical composition even though it isn't at all. The piano on this song is some of the best on the album and is for the first time the driving force. The time signatures here are amazingly complicated, yet for some reason they flow and almost seem funky. Over all an amazing peice.

Don't Go Down to Sorrow: One of the most emotional songs I have heard. This is also one of the most minimalist and most post-rock songs that 65 has produced. The drumming on this song is perfect, the drums are great and not overbearing and the piano again is set in the foreground with a melody that pulls at the heartstrings, call me crazy but this song feels like the post rock Man-Erg especially how it goes from the piano melody into the dissonance. If I had to choose a song to define this album this would be the one.

Wax Futures: Verry somber, feels like a funeral march (with static) This song however does include a glimse of hope if you look for it. This song is verry noisy, and probably not for everyone, however if you want a song that is noisy and sad than this is the one for you. Highly reccomended for break ups and family funerals.

These Things You Can't Unlearn: starts off with a downtempo electronica opening, then goes into some pretty violin and piano. This is one of those songs that provokes images, and the picture this song gives me is a sunset over oilwells in west Texas. This however will most certanly be different for every one. This song has an epic quality to it, though it isn't verry long, I guess it fits that minipic catagory. This song has a fair amount of noise but it dosn't ever cover up the melody. The drumming on this song is great and amazingly tribal. Oooh and I forgot about the fake ending part (I love those) The guitars on this song also do some fun harmonics.

Lyonesse: This song consists of a lulaby being drownd out by static, it really dosnt hold up well on its own, but in the context of the album it makes sence and is probably just what was needed to hold the somber mood. this is a song that trully does the band justice. Finally the lulaby is gone and replaced with drumming insanity, folowed by what reminds me of a thunderstorm. They even include the calm after the storm.

Music is Music is Kisses are Everything: this starts as a classic music box tune but is replaced by demented carnival music with a marching band. This is in turn replaced by a brilliant post rock build up, and we are back to the music box, only this time it is interspersed with a frantic folky tune that reminds me of lord of the rings and makes me want to smile. Violins come in over the folk tune and we go into even more uncharted brilliance with tons of different lines of music, this really could be the modern equivilant of the symphonic bands.

The Distant & Mechanised Glow of Eastern European Dance Parties: exactly what the title says, its simply crazy dance music spliced together and played over guitar fuzz. This is not really my thing and isn't a really good song but in the album it makes sence as this is sort of a turning point in the album.

Little Victories: a continuation of The Distant... but it plays metally guitar back over the top of the dancyness and is not as full of fealing as I expect my post-rock to be. This song however does have a lot of complexity going for it, and eventually finds its feet in a melody around 3:30 and gets better from there, this part reminds me of some Pinback song, but I dont remember wich one.

Primer: starts with some folky almost country guitar, but then the hard rocking drums come in and the piano plays a bit of an overature with some recognisable melodies. The song then goes into a interesting guitar and piano riff that leaves me stunned for the song. This is a good song full of lots of little surprises in its writing and style that you normally wouldn't expect. This song goes between being a good ballad and a good rocker and never seems to settle on one or the other, leaving you confused in its wake.

White Peak / Dark Peak: starts of with a verry uphappy little peice that continues to develop as it builds up and dies out, always coming back just that much more interesting this one really has that certain classical aura. Then comes the dark peice, a drony evil version of the same melody, only this time it feels like Boris could be playing it and the fuzzy guitar invoces fear. This time instead of getting more beautifull with each repetition it gets more evil with each one. This is definatelly one of the more interesting experiments in minimalism I have heard.

The Conspiracy of Seeds: 65 goes out on a limb. Starting with durge feel Violin and adding freaky samples of people talking, it begins to build up and picks up speed as it goes. there is a lot of sampling going on and the guitars are at their rocky-est while the violin is at its most beautifull. This song includes vocals from the guys from Circle Takes the Square and they are absolutelly brilliant, one of my favourite hard core screamers. This song really dosn't feel like 65days but I think that it may be a glimse of the future. The song and thus the album ends with singing (wich is really odd for a mainly insrumental band) however the ending is perfect and I love the song as much as any other.

"as we spit out the names of those we betray"

This is 65days's best album, one of my favourites ever, however I would be hard pressed to call this an essential masterpiece of Progressive music, so I guess I will have to settle with excellent addition, though it is more than excellent: 4 stars