
Ni - Self Titled [Zach Records - 2010]It seems as though since the band DEVO has become popular again in today's post-ironic age (or whatever this age is supposed to be) there's been lots of bands dressed-up in bizarre costumes, such as the PeelanderZ and (I'm assuming) this new band from Austria called simply "Ni". In this case, this band prefer Led Zeppelin-style spacesuits. And yet this music is heavy, but more in a discordant King Crimson style... But Ni do have talent to go along with their image. Especially on "Vershwindikovskli", which dares to go where most musicians fear to tread. It's pretty amazing that they perform this largely instrumental music at such breakneck speed. There's even a bit of hyper-velocity Bossa Nova which reminds me of Can except on bad amphetamines. There's some really noisy experiments with ring modulation somewhere in the mix as well. This is a very well done debut disc by an up-in-coming band that may have some things in store. If Ni actually play live in their little spacesuits I'd imagine they'd be huge in the United States.      Lawrence J. Patti
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