We Fight Til Death (CD)
This year Windsor for the Derby celebrates its tenth year with the release of its fifth full-length, "We Fight Til Death." Over those ten years Dan Matz, newly relocated to Philadelphia, and Jason McNeely, from Austin, have managed to maintain this project over the many miles. Over the last few years, Timothy White and Ben Cissner have jumped on board to lend their invaluable assistance and helped to create a solid quartet. With each release, WFTD finds a way to take a wholly different trajectory while creating a progressive connection to the last record. "We Fight Til Death" hints at the skewed pop sensibilities of "The Emotional Rescue LP," as well as the dark refrains of 1998's "Minnie Greutzfeldt." By combining elements of previous releases and exploring new terrain, "We Fight Til Death" is Windsor for the Derby's most realized release to date. For fans of Brian Eno, '60s Pink Floyd, and Tortoise.![]()
| Tracklisting | |
| Disk | 1 | |
| 1 | Melody of a Fallen Tree |
| 2 | Cutter |
| 3 | Nightingale |
| 4 | Door Is Red |
| 5 | Logic and Surprise |
| 6 | Black Coats |
| 7 | Spring Like Sixty |
| 8 | For People Unknown |
| 9 | We Fight Til Death |
| 10 | Flight |
| Matt Stafford
- New York, NY, USA |
| We Fight Til Death, the latest release from Dan Matz (The Birdwatcher) and Jason McNeeley, is by far WFTD's most accessible work to date. The influence of Adam Wiltzie (Stars of the Lid, Bedhead), although he is absent from the current WFTD lineup, is still felt on this album. The opening track, "The Melody of a Fallen Tree," recalls an early Bedhead tooling around on top of the rhythm section from New Order's "Temptation." Anyone who has heard Bedhead's cover of "Disorder" can imagine this without taxing their imagination too much: just speed it up and add a melody. "For People Unknown" gives a nod to Can's "Mother Sky", but adds a certain emo feel to the oft-covered and oft-riffed tune. The organ on this track adds a nice dark touch. Imagine a ghostly couples-only song at a haunted high-school skate night, or any scene from Carnival of Lost Souls. "Black Coats" and "We Fight Til Death" are the most driving tracks on this album. Sombre, melancholy and raging at the same time, they represent a WFTD lineup that has found the right blend of rhythmic backbone and minor key introspection that have always been characteristics of WFTD, but rarely saw expression in the same track.
It's not too unusual these days for a new record to evoke the Factory Records sound, the washed thrashing timbres of Sonic Youth's alternate tunings, or the throbbing psychotropic dronings of a Kraut-rock dirge. What is rare, is for a record to distill the essential oils from each of these staples and combine them into a fresh, undated, non-derivative potion. Windsor for the Derby's latest album does just this.
This review is from my BlogSpot site, "The Boy Reviewer." | |