From Monument to Masses' 2003 LP The Impossible Leap in One Hundred Simple Steps was an acerbic assault on political injustice, from the album's first track, "Sharpshooter" and its dissection of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, to "To Z (Repeat)", a disc-closing attestation to the nature of struggle and progress. The band relies on samples and sound bites to push its cause, weaving them into a dense fabric of instrumental post-rock that relishes the best aspects of the genre without falling into its all-too-predictable patterns. The songs are long and winding, but it's to their advantage, as they use the space and length to shift the mood and tone, bouncing at times through robotic rhythms, catchy melodies, and thick walls of guitar and bass. Now, more than two years later, From Monument to Masses returns with Schools of Thought Contend, which combines 13 collaborative interpretations and two new tracks to create a compelling companion to The Impossible Leap.
The two new tracks continue in the style the band established and developed over the course of its first two albums. "Deafening" opens the disc with soothing guitar chords, bells, and violin droning over a tight high-hat and snare-rim beat. As with many of their songs, though, by the five-minute mark, the tone has changed, trading in the lush arrangement for stop-and-start rhythms and distorted guitars. "The Noise Thereafter", the other new track, appears toward the tail end of the disc. It's a much more upbeat affair, with math-rock-esque guitar noodling and a quick, galloping beat. It's definitely one of the more fun tracks these guys have done, and hopefully it's an indication as to where they're headed.
The remixes are the bulk of the disc, and as with most remix albums, the successful tracks are the ones that take elements of the original and breathe new life into them. "The Quiet Before" appeared originally as a short, dreamy, bass-driven track with as much cymbal crashing going on as an actual beat. The Thunderbirds Are Now! remix, however, transforms it into a skittering dance tune, with cut-up snares and cymbals and high-pitched computer blippery for the first half, and lullaby-style bells and keys on the backstretch. The second remix of the track, done by Subtitle, skews and detunes the guitar, pushes the bass to the front, and uses it all as the backdrop for the MC's layered rapping. A third and final version, remixed by Amundsen, closes the album. This version strips even more from the original, turning it into a somber acoustic guitar and accordion piece, with the percussion reduced to spikes of static.
"From the Mountains to the Prairies" appears here in two radically different forms. The first, the Norr Liva & AM remix, mutates the driving original into a haunting post-rock epic that's at times sparse and atmospheric, at times bombastic and intense. The Textual remix takes tiny bits of the original, such as single-note guitar strumming, and layers it with 808 drum machine beats and warbling bass, in essence transforming the song from rock to laptop IDM.
For the most part, the more bold the choice made by the artist remixing the track, the more successful the result. Automato remixes "The Spice Must Flow" into dance floor dub in the same zip code as "Funkytown". Both versions of "To Z (Repeat)"-- one each by 65daysofstatic and Last Defender of the One True Waveform-- push the levels into the red, upping the intensity right along with the mixing-board faders. But several tracks suffer from simply not having enough going on: Jason Clark's remix of "Sharpshooter" is too empty at times, and too similar to the original at others. Likewise, Antimc turns "Old Robes" into generic drum and bass while retaining little from the original.
Even if it isn't enough to stand on its own, Schools of Thought Contend has a ton of strong, interesting, and exciting material. Its biggest drawback is the length. At 15 tracks, it's just too bloated, especially considering the source album only had seven. As a companion piece to its predecessor, Schools works, but without that support, it will probably find trouble standing on its own.
