TUESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2008
Icy Demons are a five piece experimental outfit hailing from Chicago. Comprised of members form Chicago notables like Bablicon's Griffin Rodriguez (under the pseudonym Blue Hawaii), and Man Man's Christopher Powell, Icy Demons make music that borrows elements as diverse as samba, dub, electronica, and no wave noise to form a sound that explicitly defies categorization. Their third full length offering, Miami Ice, sounds like a compilation soundtrack of old Nintendo games over the sandy rhythms of a Jamaican beach resort. It's earnestly invigorating and, oddly enough, easily approachable for an experimental album that's as out there as this is.
Miami Ice's title track is an electronic overlay of synths and fuzz over straightforward rock drumsit's far and above the poppiest song of the bunch. However, tracks along the lines of "Summer Samba" and "Jantar Mantar" sound like the soundtrack to Caribbean cruise commercials from the future. The contrasts of old world cool and new school electro-geek actually works rather well-- the result is a surprisingly fluid mesh that's both laidback and cheery. "Spywatchers" is a spastic offering that jumps between off-beat, worldly rhythms and a linear, Strokes-ish pulse that encapsulates the hodgepodge feel of the album overall. The album's closing track, "Crittin' Down to Baba's", borrows the bass riff from Beat It and overlays it with overclocked funk guitars, resulting in what sounds like an optimistic B-side for Joy Division.
Miami Ice is like a sampler platter of experimental sounds that explores the gamut of musicality. While not everyone will love the whole thing in its entirety, there's something in there for everyone to take away and enjoy. - chris gayomali
