So, Bring On Mixed Reviews

Madlove – White With Foam – Review

Release Date: September 1st, 2009
Record Label: Ipecac Recordings
Genre: Eerie Rock

Madlove, the brain child of bassist Trevor Dunn, has virtually come out of nowhere to release their latest album “White With Foam.” On the roster of well-known indie label, Ipecac Recordings, this five-piece rock outfit is fairly young and still growing into their skin as a band. The positive thing is that you can’t really tell that while listening to their new record. Featuring a tempered tempo that remains calm and collected all the way through, Madlove happens to play some moving music, just make sure you drink several cups of coffee before listening, because “White With Foam” has a way of putting you in a sleepy trance.

It’s not that Madlove‘s music isn’t exciting or interesting — I simply mean that Ches Smith‘s drumming, Trevor Dunn‘s basslines, Hilmar Jensson‘s guitars, and Erik Deutsch‘s differently equipped keys are more than likely going to play a certain frequency that will make you sleepy. Of course songs like “Dirty” have parts that pick up and actually sound like smooth rock, but most of it has “lullaby” written all over it. If you take “White With Foam” for what it is however, (being charming, yet quixotic in nature), then your likability of the record will probably rise. In this respect, Madlove‘s flowing melodies and seamless transitions are what make this record so palpable.

With lead singer Sunny Kim‘s vocals however, there is a hit or miss problem. For much of “White With Foam,” she irons out a smooth soul into the wonky/wrinkly rock pants that Madlove instrumentally wears. I hope you are still with me after that analogy. For those looking for explanation (most, I am sure), I simply mean that she is able to add a traditional layer of delicate singing on a weirdly assembled bit of instruments. The problem arises when she starts to feed off those off-kilter riffs and half-notes, and begins to sing on a different bar. Let’s just say if she was singing on something like Rock Band, she would sing perfectly in sync with a certain octave, but it wouldn’t be the same as the music, or even a complementary note to it.

And as I peeked my eyes into the linear notes and lyrics of the CD case, I couldn’t help see that most of the tracks read like finger-snapping, short, poet society poems. (Ex. Weathered, head severed. Broken smile, Of razor wire. Useless, and toothless. Run and hide awhile.”) Powerful sounding if simply read aloud to a finger-snapping crowd, but when combined with Madlove‘s slowly-going-mental style of rock almost makes it sound like a raving mad man. They always say that there is a thin line between being a genius and being crazy and “White With Foam” tests that line many many times. It is almost as if Blondie went a little kooky (more so than she already is) and made ethereal very weird rock.

“White With Foam” is filled with oddities, that’s for sure. And there is good with the bad. Madlove is still a young band though, being only together for less than a year — so I will be interested in seeing how they progress. But if you need hints on how kooky sounding this record is, the first two minutes of “The Mute Number” sound like something from an 80′s haunted house soundtrack. I guess crazy is better than crappy. ~Staff

Score: 3/5

Track Listing:
1. Rats With Wings
2. Thread
3. Absence & Noise
4. Dirty
5. In Love (In Theory)
6. As Sad As It Was Beautiful
7. Broke
8. Left With Nothing
9. Knowing
10. The Mute Number
11. The Art Of Denial
12. All The Nerve Endings