In America, we tend to equate quantity with greatness-- the bigger the product or the more of it, the better. For example, something about the idea of a 100-plex is interesting both on the structural tip and logistically. If they're playing 100 movies (realistically 50-- at least ten theaters would have to be reserved for Star Wars, et. al.), there might be one or two that don't feature helicopters, corsets, or a soundtrack by Blink-182. That's the double-edged sword of quantity thinking: with so much selection, we expect to find a gem hidden in all the mass. Conversely, we've gotten so used to having so much space that people seem incapable of turning out the good stuff without a whole helluva lot of clutter.
Super/System, the third album (and first for Dischord) from D.C. trio El Guapo, contains-- count 'em-- eighteen tracks in 42 minutes. This is ar impressive feat for an avant-garde band whose appetite for sonic weirdness, jazz fusion, and various and sundry electronic bells and whistles might have you anticipating an extended horn jam session, ambient noise, and general rhythmic fucking around. And you wouldn't be wrong. There's some of all of that: the six-minute "Being Boulevard" includes all of the above, plus some appropriately Mark E. Smith-influenced yelling about fast lanes and bite-size snacks. There's something sort of appealing about this mix, though the ambient drone that makes up the latter half of the song is about 3\xBD minutes too long, and I'm curious to see how exactly they would pull this off live.
But "Being Boulevard" is just the tip of the iceberg. Super/System contains so many sounds, and so many styles of music (sometimes within the same song, or in the same bar of the same song) that you might suffer under the temporary delusion that you're not listening to a cohesive album at all, but a quirky sound effects CD. There's just so much here-- it's the Old Country Buffet approach to songwriting.
As previously noted, this approach guarantees them some moments of pure greatness; the problem is that they're not necessarily in any individual song. So here, I'll give you a short list of the most solid assets El Guapo has going for them: the droning harmonies over the driving, near-military drums on "My Bird Sings," the icy, clever TNT-era Tortoise rhythms or "Disappointment Spelled With A V.," and even the flurry of free-jazz horns that pop up sporadically are great the first or second time around.
Signing to Dischord is kind of a big step for El Guapo; it may earn them a whole new variety of fans. In that light, Super/System may be seen as sort of a crossover album. There are moments here that are accessible-- "Buildables" is pretty catchy and easygoing, even though it does sound sort of like simplified Autechre with vocals. But El Guapo doesn't let you get too comfortable with any one genre or style. Things change so rapidly (and songs end so quickly) that Super/System may actually be less accessible than their previous work.
When you start to incorporate experimental techniques into your music, a kind of underlying master plan is not a bad idea. Like, your audience, ideally, shouldn't get the impression that you threw that arrhythmic cacophonous mix of beeps and buzzes and bleats called "Faith Based Music" onto the album after an offhand in-studio conversation beginning with the lines, "Hey guys, you know what would be really cool...?" It's tedious.
Super/System sounds like the best Christmas present ever for a burgeoning DJ. It's all there-- the sudden bursts of vocals, of melody, of interesting beats, of fun instrumental blips-- a seemingly inexhaustible resource! Turning 100 varieties of racket out on one 42 minute CD may earn accolades in some circles. As for me, I'm too overwhelmed to wade through all the clamor looking for the moments of genius.
