Blue Screen of Death

Out of the substantial crop of post-punk groups from Toronto whose sense of musical irreverence and abstract approach to songwriting has both endeared and alienated listeners, dd/mm/yyyy are certainly the best of the bunch. Balancing the jerky rhythmic sense of Red Light Sting with the atypical melodic styling of bands like the Fall or Television, songs such as "Teenageartfagcancerfanclub" provide a rousing sing-along, a math rock breakdown, and hand-claps — all layered on top of a surprisingly hooky organ part. The keyboard sounds on the record give all of the proceedings an almost-Klezmer-like feel, particularly on the bouncy jaunt of "City Nights/Warez Ur Head @." While the record's first eight songs represent the band as a whole, the remaining 16 are the work of individual members, forming the section of the disc known as The Journey to and Escape from the Fortress of the Fluffy Love Cloud. -exclaim.ca