Rockin' Our Turntable: The M's

By Tankboy in Arts & Entertainment on Jun 26, 2008 7:07PM

The M's latest, Real Close Ones, opens with a squall of guitars and a piano fighting its way out of the mounds of fuzz its buried under before it's pushed back down in the mix by a swelling line of horns. The band's modus operandi of mixing noise with undeniable melody seems to be back in full effect.

Or is it?

After the brawling opener the band suddenly pulls back with more intimate arrangements, dialing down the volume and allowing the separate instruments to speak distinctly without some of the claustrophobic sheets of noise that ran through previous albums. After the heavier Future Women, which we certainly dug in its own right, it's nice to hear the band taking a bit of a breather.

Songs like the slowly unwinding "Papers" and the Pink Floyd jugband of "Breakfast Score" typify the overriding sound of the disc after the initial outburst of the opening (and aptly named) "Big Sound" described earlier. Sometimes the band slips a little too close to being buried by a particular influence, for instance "Naked" could have been a Harry Nillsson outtake, but for the most part they channel their idols and reign in their sound to produce yet another album proving that some of the best bands out there right now come from Chicago.

MP3: The M's "Big Sound"
MP3: The M's "Don't Be Late"