 Room204 - s/t [Effervescence - 2003]Once upon a dream. A man came to me and said “you shall listen to math-rock”. From his worn-out leather bag, he took a few CD’s and put them on the floor. When I woke up, all sweaty and stinky, the presents were still around. Written on the covers were unfathomable names such as Don Caballero, King Crimson, Slint, Cheval de frise. And when I listened to the CD’s one after the other, I got scared… Weird structures, endless time signature changes… Aaaaargggh! Aaaaarrrgggghhhhh! Room 204 come from Brittany, France. Room 204: a guitar /drums duo. This is their first album. They do math-rock. But they don’t scare me. I’ve heard them before. I’ve heard that album a gazillion time although there was a different name on the CD. It’s not that they’re bad or anything. The first few tracks are nice enough. Nice guitar tone. An ear for melody. Some breathing spaces in the music. No noisy bits. Nice and soft and gentle. All is well, you may say. No, it is not! It is boring! It doesn’t take more than three songs before it all sounds like a clichéd routine. Lack of dynamic is the first crime. Wearing its influences (Slint, Chevreuil) on its sleeves, so to speak, is the second. Using the overused film sample “tool” is the third one. I love instrumental music, but if you think the listener will need some voices to keep on paying attention to what’s going on, then get a bloody singer! Since it has been done so often, film dialogues samples have to be used very, very carefully. Both musicians are good. Their compositions ain’t bad. It’s just so fucking stereotyped… Maybe things will get better on future releases. You’d be more inspired to check their good friends of Chevreuil. Or, if you’re an open-minded math-rocker, listen to Virus (review here), the band behind one of my favourite album of the year… Available through Aim-Distribution    François Monti
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