The Ned Ludd Band has no desire to be put into your box. They’re well-rehearsed and practiced in the art of blowing smoke. With Spacebar stacked seven songs deep, the band manages to score one hundred percent in reinvention class. Track for track, the album darts and turns, alters and reforms, shifting significantly from the previous. There are no road maps on this trip and you for damn sure better pack some motion sickness pills. Why? Well, because this path is more slippery than a used car salesman short on cash the week before Christmas.
“Why Did It Have to Be the Furniture Store Misty,” the album’s opening track, is a writer’s best friend, upping the word count every time it is mentioned. With an upbeat and frantic feel to it, the band channels great 1990s structuring. An open-minded listener could hear the likes of The Presidents of the United States of America shoving this track between “Peaches” and “Boll Weevil” on their 1994 self-titled cut.
However, directly following the mouthful of an opener, we find “In a Duel,” a darker and more tormented track than the kickstarter cut. Channeling Tom Waits, the layered vocals give the album a completely different feel. “Jump” follows suit, twisting ever so slightly to a Sub Pop records Ugly Casanova sort of experience. The song’s soft lingering dynamics are lent to the album well, serving as the high point of the album’s seven tracks.
Shifting gears yet again, the album’s next two tracks “Never Leave Your Lady With Your Best Friend” and “Tell You Why” are made for pot-addicted hula hoop girls. With Blues Travelers harmonica and jam band qualities, The Ned Ludd Band not only kicks open the door to the stoner-friendly dance party, they also kick open the door to a wide array of possibilities for the population wearing straw hats and hemp bathing suits tap dancing down the beach. While it isn’t quite Ween, that demographic should be all ears. Why? Because if there were ever a secret handshake to the long and winding road tripping on anything you can smoke soundtrack, these two songs would make the cut.
So, what else can you possibly add to an already indie-meets-grungy-meets-hippie filled album? Blues, of course! “An Evening with Bannister Mall” focuses on its inter-18th and Vine. With a chill foundation and extremely overwhelming focus on the lyrics the track flows flawlessly into the guitar heavy “Catalog.” While I found myself shying away from the epileptic word vomit in the middle region of the track, the song’s core existence is to prove the band’s ability to go bat shit crazy on the axe. The riffs on this track are not to be fucked with and slam a pretty pointed exclamation point on the end of Spacebar.
In the end The Ned Ludd Band’s lack of compromise turns out to also be their saving grace. There is nothing boring about this seven-track EP. Like the ADHD child in the back of the classroom, it never sits still long enough to be ignored. It is in constant need of attention.
SCORE: 7.5/10
Catch The Ned Ludd Band in action next Saturday, November 17. They’ll be playing at Coda at 9 pm with Cadillac Flambe at The Inwards. Facebook event page.
–Joshua Hammond
| After stints drumming for both The Afternoons and Jenny Carr and the Waiting List in the Lawrence/Kansas City music scene, Joshua Hammond found his footing as a music journalist, launching the national publication Popwreckoning. After running the show as Editor in Chief for 6 years, Hammond stepped away from the reigns to freelance for other publications like Under The Gun Review and High Voltage Magazine. This shift allowed the adequate amount of time for him to write passionately, allow the Kansas City Royals to break his heart on a daily basis and spoon his cats just enough that they don’t shred his vinyl. |