December 9–16, 1999

disc quicks|rock/pop

Doldrums

Desk Trickery

(Kranky)

On Doldrums’ latest, guitarist Bill Kellum uses the fretboard of his instrument like a sampling keyboard. Hiscomputer serves as a guitar pedal capable of producing some very un-guitarlike sonance. The end results conjure imagesfrom a post-millennial horn section to a malfunctioning spacecraft. Despite being Doldrums’ strangest record, theirfourth LP is also the most accessible. Propelled by the drumming and strumming of Matt Kellum and Justin Chearnorespectively, there are songs beneath the gentle mayhem. The drone and improvisation that have made them faves of psychrockers worldwide are still intact, but there’s also more melody and rocking. The opening track, "OfficeScene," is almost danceable. Doldrums used to bury their vocals in the mix, but this time one can almost make outthe words. When the band played in Philly a few months ago, Bill (who also runs VHF records from his home in Virginia)joked that this record was his last chance at stardom. Ten-minute damaged wah-wah jams are never going to make it tomainstream radio, but they will find Doldrums a wider audience, perhaps. The album title refers to all thetechnology employed in mixing the record. But the real trick is that Doldrums manages to coax rock ’n’ rollout of all this computer science.

—Chris Nosal