Milemarker
Anaesthetic
- Jade Tree
Release Date: October 2001
Milemarker's fourth full-length album, "Anaesthetic," marks a convergence and shifting in music in which 80s new wave is rejuvenated with the energy of punk rock. The band based out of, Chapel Hill, NC, is composed of Dave Laney (guitar/vocals), Roby Newton (synth/vocals), Al Burian (bass/vocals/synth), and Sean Husick (drums).
Milemarker is an important part of musical transition that is shaking the foundation of rock as we know it. Firmly rooted in and with the energy of punk rock, Milemarker explains that "keyboards allow you to be twenty-nine years old and relive that feeling of being fourteen with a guitar going I can't play this and yet somehow I am playing in a punk band." Perhaps it is the new borders that have been opened up through learning a new instrument, or the fact they have been writing together for four-years and all can sing well.
Vocals are seamlessly traded off between the three singers. Burian and Laney with angular post-punk chants and screams are joined by Newton's a haunting, goth-influenced soprano to reach impressively numbing drones and amidst that a soaring optimism. Lines such as "we can sucher the future which can replicate structures which replicate us" in Ant Architect and "even depression is not depressing any more" in A Quick Trip to the Clinic paint a stark, hopeless nihilistic future.
Perhaps we have the signs of a new trend or perhaps I just know a bunch of artful ex-punk rockers who are fascinated with button-pushing and turntablism. Sergio Vega from Quick Sand DJs and is in an electro band with Chris Trayner from NYC hardcore act Orange 9mm and Helmet. Something is happening and it feels bigger than the first instance when we saw Six Finger Satellite scare the shit out of us with a strap on Moog in the early-90s. Or when assorted indie rockers like Van Pelt, Speed King, or Espadrille added minimal Casio, Moog, or Farfisa parts on top of indie rock songs. This time keyboards and samples are in the forefront of the song creation process. Convergence is also occurring through electro acts that are taking Italo-disco, techno, glam rock and synth pop onto the stage. Artists like Milemaker taking important steps proving to punk and indie rockers that keyboards can rock too.
--Ben Segal
ben@outersound.com
