Clean, Old Fashioned Noise Rock

Ice Balloons begs the question, “what truly constitutes a super group?” Typically, a supergroup is comprised of individual members all from equally, or relatively equally famous bands. Some of the better examples of groups like this are Them Crooked Vultures, Chickenfoot, Minor Victories and Planetarium. Typically these types of groups are more common in the world of rock, though as one can see through the above examples, the indie rock world has their fair share as well. The reason that Ice Balloons could be seen as being “on the cusp” of a supergroup is that, while every member of the group is from a different band, one member, Kyp Malone of TV on the Radio, is clearly in a league of his own within the band. Though the semantics of the group’s distinction may be up for debate, one thing is clear — this is noise rock at its most classic.

Initially, the album is shockingly less weird than the album cover would imply, and to be fair, if it met the promise of the album cover it would be, by far, the strangest album of the year.

The first song off of Fiesta is “Dead Fly,” which begins with a mid-pitch chirping noise, almost like a guitar string being rubbed by a pick without an amplifier. The song itself is pretty straightforward, lead singer Sean Kennerly (of Samiam) yelps his punk vocals in short bursts while a rattling bass guitar ploddingly pounds away in the background. The whole song is custom built for an angry mosh pit — the kind that is filled with skinny teens stomping about rather than thrashing around maddeningly. It’s a pretty solid way to kick off the album, but the meat isn’t really discovered until “Smothers Almond Brothers Worm Story,” which features the same rattling bass but the vocals are more frantic, playing in loops over themselves and creating a disorienting effect within the song. There’s also the introduction of high pitched electric guitars and their feedback over the top end of the track, making the whole affair seem very reminiscent of Big Black or Shellac.

The next couple songs follow on the same trend until “Fallen Family,” which features the same distorted vocals but has the same effect applied to some of the guitar riffs as well. The song itself is slower and more aggressive than many of it’s predecessors, and calls to mind drone rock or metal such as Boris more readily than noise rock of years past. The album closer, “Eraserer,” is the most synth-centric track on the album, beginning with warbling synth lines and a crackling roll of guitar feedback lurking in the back levels of the track. It is by far the purest noise track on the record and completes its sizzling appearance with a fierce pitch whine towards the latter end of the track that could have served as the wind up (or wind down) of a particularly calming Merzbow track.

In the end, whether or not people choose to call Ice Balloons a supergroup probably doesn’t matter to them. What does matter is that they got together and made some of the most exciting noise rock in recent memory. If people think that noise rock lost its way when it started getting too deep into power synths or pop crossover with bands like HEALTH, or went too fiercely into the noise side and lost what made it rock like Girl Band or METZ, then this is the album for those people. This is the purest noise rock album in ages. Sitting carefully between rock and noise and punk, Fiesta is a treat for any listeners who are looking to get back to the roots of the genre.