Caboladies - Crowded Out Memory

Caboladies
Crowded Out Memory
(2009, Gneiss Things)
RIYL = High Wolf, Axolotl, Sam Hamilton, Emeralds

To call Caboladies and the Caboladies related output in the last couple of years 'prolific' is kind of like calling Michael Jordan just an ok basketball player; it’s pretty much the understatement of the decade. The craziest part is that it seems like everything this Kentucky trio (now a duo?) touches turns gold and promptly (and rightfully) disappears amid the frenzied drone-heads lurking teh internets for any sign of an under-the-radar Caboladies release. Well, I lamented not being hip to the Caboladies’ Atomic Weekender LP on Digitalis, but I guess I can’t complain because Crowded Out Memory, the new cdr from Emeralds run label Gneiss Things, is pretty much the album lengthed Caboladies treasure that I have been yearning for all year. Like Axolotl’s Of Bonds in General, Crowded Out Memory just barely makes the thirty minute mark with three long form tracks. I bring up Of Bonds in General because despite the astral hyperboles that I heaped upon that record in my review of its unparalleled goodness, Crowded Out Memory is hitting that same level of noise-ambient bliss. While Caboladies do fit into a similar category as Axolotl, there are definitely distinct differences in their sound. What Caboladies have been pushing is a bit less abrasive and a bit more, um, spacey? Crowded Out Memory is flush with a polysynth barrage of digital rainfall, mechanized laser beams and glittering keyboard sizzles that all combine to create the most unlikely beauty. Crowded Out Memory is basically two relatively shorter tracks sandwiching an eighteen minute plus behemoth of wandering, molecular mischief that strives to rearrange the patterns of space. Caboladies do a pretty fair job too. I wouldn’t be surprised if based on the efforts of this album alone that scientists announce the addition, retraction and rearrangement of several planets in our solar system by early next year. Of course, by that time you can probably expect that the Caboladies will have released a dozen more, equally gorgeous tapes, cds and vinyl to put things back into their rightful place again. As far as I am concerned, Caboladies can pretty much do whatever they want. This album is simply nuts delicious, textured and pastoral, futuristic and timeless. I guess there is one less available spot in my top ten for 2009.

-Thistle

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