Here’s something new: The guy behind psychedelic-pop darlings Black Moth Super Rainbow has created a noise album you can dance to.
If the labels noise and dance seem about as compatible as liverwurst and frosting, its because they are. Yet somehow on Maniac Meat, Tobacco manages to blend menacing drums and distorted feedback with the simple, analog electro-dance hooks of MGMT or Neon Indian. As a bonus, Beck offers guest vocals on two tracks. The collaboration makes sense, since Tobacco’s complex beats, stripped-down effects, and just-plain-weird chord progressions evoke Mr. Hansen’s “One Foot in the Grave” era. On “Fresh Hex” and “Grape Aerosmith,” Tobacco artfully layers Beck’s unmistakable voice at its most haunting over a vocoder and dark, elaborate key line. Its a moody, grimy aesthetic that’s a little dangerous, a little dirty, and a little trippy. It’ll make you dance, even if you never really liked liverwurst.
