Marginalized Information Forms 3: Other

Rising from the ashes of the enigmatic San Diego post-rock troupe Physics at the beginning of 2000, Aspects of Physics exists as a continuation of existing ideas with the much-needed fusion of new thoughts on music. In order to further their experiments, Jason Soares (who has served time in such bands as Rob Crow's power-pop Thingy, the mock-political hardcore band Rice, and the indie-instrumentalist Stacatto Reads) and original member Thatcher Orbitashi have constructed a wide array of input devices in the forms of guitar, synths (vintage to virtual), laptops, desktops, MIDI controllers, projectors, wireless transmitters, and modified electronic devices, among other techwich gadgets. After playing and touring for over a year (supporting such acts as Lesser, Pinback, Tristeza, The Album Leaf, The Locust, The Fucking Champs, etc), Thatcher parted from the duo and was quickly replaced with Physics alumni and sometime contributor, JFRE Coad. JFRE is no stranger to experimentation, as witnessed in his stint with the same local punk/rock band that spawned pre-post rockers A Minor Forest and the skitzo-n-bass Lesser (of which he was an early live member and authorized trouble maker).

So while AOP's predecessor Physics brought the worlds of indie/punk rock and electronic music together five years before it was even hip to do so, Aspects of Physics takes it one step further with their seamless welding of the styles of post-rock, ambient, IDM, visuals. And lest we forget the punk rock influence, does so with a general dissent towards power structures and non-dynamic systems.

This is the final album in a 3-part series by San Diego's enigmatic Aspects of Physics -- spanning 5 years, 7 members, and countless pieces of individual audio bits and bytes painstakingly pieced together to form the cohesive Marginalized Information Forms series. Whereas part one in the series represented the marriage of electronic and rock sensibilities and part two focused more on their electronic leanings, part three shifts towards the more organic live-rock-band side of the equation. Children of the post-rock age, MIF3 returns Aspects of Physics back to their roots of amp stacks, drum kits, and crowded rock clubs. Taken as a whole, the MIF series runs the gamut from the bleeps and bloops of synths and computers to the distortion and dynamics of guitars and the human condition. For fans of Battles, Tortoise, Slint, Physics, Fridge, Four Tet, Stockhausen, Kraftwerk, Mogwai.