Nice Nice is the work of one guitarist, one drummer, and a whole lot of electronic loops. Their first album, Chrome, was a collection of alien funk, sound collages, and junkyard skronk. They've since released a few EPs, always honing a distinct, layered, and monstrous sound that seems far too large to be the work of just two men. Extra Wow-- their second full-length and first for Warp—keeps the eclecticism of their previous work but aims to be more cohesive via a relentlessly sunny, psychedelic feel.
Rather than lean on samples and loops as simple backing tracks, Nice Nice have a musical conversation with them. Over a drone of human voices and machine-like buzzing, "Set and Setting" begins with an insistent beat, and the guitar and vocals stab through the mix in monotone bursts. That haze slides into "One Hit", which is marked by full-band staccato pounding, falling apart into messy skronk before resuming again. "A Way We Glow" starts with a cymbal patter before layering on bells, whistles, bird noises, inscrutable percussion, and various electronic squiggles-- though it's the high falsetto that gives the track its airy, dreamlike feel. The two men manage to sound like one big machine on the verge of blowing apart.
The interplay between the two musicians and their numerous loops is so remarkably fluid, it's not until fifth track "Everything Falling Apart" that individual contributions become discernible. Yet even as that song provides a steadier beat and recognizable lyrics, its tension comes from the frantic pace and the circular, chirping melody that closes it. As the record progresses, the line between man and machine gets more blurred. A chorus of what sounds like thumb pianos gives "See Waves" a distinctive sound while keeping with the album's eclectic vibe. Most of the album's second half follows the same pattern to less memorable effect. There are a lot of recent genre-blurring artists that Extra Wow can remind you of in spirit-- recent Animal Collective, Dan Deacon, Caribou. But while those artists found greater success by paring down and tightening their focus, Nice Nice are all about repetition and expansion. It's technically stunning for just two men, but with the exception of a few tighter tracks, Extra Wow is too gleefully overloaded to do more than maintain a vibe and feel.
