Skeletons

Money

(Tomlab)

Record Review by Adam McKibbin

Ask people about their least favorite sounds and a lot of folks, particularly those of us in highway-stretched cities like Los Angeles, will be drawn to the road:  the sickening screech of tires before a collision or the wail of car horns in the midst of gridlock.  Never one to take the path of least resistance to their listener’s hearts, Matt Mehlan and Skeletons begin their latest album with an extensive dose of the latter.  Given Mehlan’s eclectic track record, he wouldn’t have been a likely contender to make a “document o’ the times,” but Money – in its own bizarre, sometimes exhilarating and sometimes off-putting way – winds up with a lot to say about where the world stands in 2009.  It buzzes with hope and squeals with nervous, unfocused energy.  It’s a hit and it’s a headache.  And at the heart of it – somewhere – is a parable of scraping by while shaking the chains that society casts on everyone.  Or something like that.  Maybe.

After the car horn chorus subsides, Money cashes in one of its strongest tracks:  “The THINGS.”  “Why would I want to know these things?” Mehlan asks in a controlled panic.  The music whirs and bumps beneath him, a chug-a-lug collision of instruments and rhythms.  Given the way in which the album started, it’s easy to imagine the protagonist jumping the fence and having an Into the Wild moment.  But two songs later, Mehlan is singing “I’m gonna get paid enough to survive,” sounding resigned and relieved and smug all at the same time.  It’s an example of how he gets the most out of his airy, otherwise somewhat anonymous vocal style.  Musically, meanwhile, Skeletons settle into a groove on the track (“STEPPER a.k.a. Work”).  It’s like “Chain Gang” or “9 to 5” for the digital age.

Before long, Money explodes into the manic (and aptly titled) “BOOOM! (Money)”, a dense piece of noisemaking that stretches on for over 11 minutes, alternately sounding inspired and exhilarating… and then like a wanky jazz jam session into nowhere.  Whether it blows minds or turns stomachs is in the ear of the beholder.

Interludes like “Dripper” and “Lullaby” add to the story arc but don’t do much as stand-alone pieces.  “The Masks” again strikes a more reflective chord, and shows Skeletons again arriving at the intersection of accessibility and avant-garde.  For the third time in as many tries, Mehlan and Skeletons have made an album that inhabits its own curious world.  No small feat.  This time around, it tells us a little about the world we already know, too.