Slipping beneath Whitcomb’s Amber Tide

By SAM PFEIFLE | April 25, 2012

For all the darkness here and low-end thrum, there is a deep-seated joy that's impossible to deny. In the balladic "What Redress," the methodical cycling approaches Ocean's depths before erupting into a falsetto "oooh-ooh" finish and we're reminded, "There's nothing hurts like tenderness." Similarly, the album as a whole is a lesson in what a warm embrace really loud music can be.

The louder you play it, the easier it is to lose yourself in the individual parts, the cycling riffs, the resonance. Sometimes music like this can derive its energy from the feeling that it's all on the brink of falling apart and shooting off into space, but with Whitcomb it's just the opposite — their energy is like the swirling magma that makes up the center of the earth.

Sam Pfeifle can be reached at sam_pfeifle@yahoo.com.

< prev 1 | 2 |

Topics: CD Reviews , Machine Head, Bull Moose, Gozu, More

| More

Most Popular

The Current Issue

Table of Contents

Cover Archive

Masthead | Authors | Contact us

Blogs

Where To Follow Me
Talking Politics | March 24, 2013 at 11:09 AM

Mo Takes His Turn
March 21, 2013 at 12:59 PM

[Q&A] KMFDM's Sascha Konietzko on art, Columbine and having balls
On The Download | March 18, 2013 at 3:22 PM

See this film series: The Belmont World Film Series @ Studio Cinema in Belmont
Outside The Frame | March 18, 2013 at 11:00 AM

See this film: This is Spinal Tap [with post-film talk by expert from Acoustical Society of America] @ the Coolidge
March 17, 2013 at 12:00 PM

ARTICLES BY SAM PFEIFLE

TRAILS (AND KOOL G RAP, WHICH IS CRAZY) | June 13, 2013
Twenty-eight seconds. That's the length of Kool G Rap's contribution to Trails' new Anvils & Pianos , the hip-hop duo's third release (and it might as well be their fourth release, too — at 19 songs, it's a monster).

KINGS AND QUEENS OF SUMMER | June 07, 2013
What’s more “summer” than hip hop and pop radio?

LIKE TRISTRAM AND ISOBELL | May 30, 2013
Isobell are now a tight five-piece, with Bekah Hayes's piano and keyboard work providing alternately crisp melody lines and echoing organ atmosphere, and Chris McKneally's electric guitar tone moving between airy psychedelia and precise prog.

ROBERT STILLMAN RETURNS WITH THE ARCHAIC FUTURE PLAYERS | May 23, 2013
For a guy who plays the saxophone the way people talk about, Robert Stillman is an awful good drummer. And keyboard player. He does a fair bit of impressive composition, too.

JOE FARREN’S COUNTRIFIED SECOND RELEASE | May 23, 2013
It's been more than five years since Joe Farren's last record, a debut number on which he showed off his multi-instrumental chops and riffed on Americana themes.