surfers74

Intelligence – Fake Surfers/Crepuscule With Pacman
In The Red/Born Bad

You remember the A-Frames, of course?

They ruled.

They were Seattle’s apology for Grunge.

And Lars Finberg, the multi-instrumentalist and madman behind the defunct, but ever-relevant A-Frames, is back with his new outfit, the Intelligence.

And the Intelligence shoots-to-get.

Finberg’s latest efforts have arrived in back-to-back LP releases. Crepuscule With Pacman was released recently on French label Born Bad. Fake Surfers was quick to follow on In The Red. I feel fortunate to have first listened to the French release; Crepuscule with Pacman is a superior effort.

I don’t mean to dismiss Fake Surfers. It’s a quality release. It’s also safe and fun and nowhere near-so creative as Crepuscule with Pacman. Fake Surfers is worth a go, but I’d rather rap about Pacman.

In Crepescule WIth Pacman, Finberg finds a technical sheen for the abrasion and bluntness of the A-Frames. A meeting of the Swell Maps and Wire, circa-1977 results. Psychedelic, bitter, and lethargic, this album is not necessarily an easy listen. In contrast to the bouncier Fake Surfers, Crepsecule Wth Pacman is a less approachable endeavor. The extra effort on the listener’s part is worth it; Crepsucule is a much more rewarding work than Fake Surfers. And like the band name suggests, Finberg must be smart – or at least trying to impress the filthy French – because I had to look up “crepuscule.”

crepuscule |kriˈpəsˌkyoōl| noun – the period of partial darkness at the beginning or end of the day; twilight.

That is about right. What excites me about this album, and Finberg’s work in general, is the realization of music as filthy, black as coal, and yet good. I don’t like metal, not particularly. You see, I like a thing called music. So when a hairy testosterone-mound says things to me like “doom” and “brutal,” I think “white” and “Napolean-complex.” Let me be clear: I’m not writing-off metal as a genre. I’ve heard rad metal and I’m sure there are probably interesting things going on there now. I just don’t care to sift through the beards to get there. As a consequence, I haven’t had much faith in anything being both “sludgy” and good. I was wrong: Crepuscule with Pacman is heavy, gloomy and exceptional, without being meat-headed, shallow, and arbitrarily loud.

My first couple of listening experiences with the A-Frames ended with my confidence of having heard something great, but being unable to distinguish one song from another. From track one of this record, my attention was commanded. Crepuscule WIth Pacman is possibly the best I’ve heard from 2009 thus far.

Do not miss Linberg’s latest. The man is killing it.