Goes Well With: Album Leaf, Tristeza, Steve Reich
Once the guitarist for San Diego band Physics, back pain forced Jason Soares to take up instruments that demand less erect ergonometry. He chose computers, and the result was Aspects of Physics—a glitchy, Autechre-like project that debuted in 2001 with Systems of Social Recalibration. It was a great album—like a symphony of those metal insects in The Matrix Reloaded, if they were programmed to digitize Phillip Glass instead of ripping humans limb from limb.
Marginalized Information is the first in a three-album series of follow-ups, and is decidedly more ambient and introspective than Systems. Soares and partner JFRE “robot” Coad have invented multiple electronic noisemakers in the last two years, and Marginalized pits these micro-toys with real humans who softly render electric guitar, bass, keys and drums. A few songs—especially “Neutrino” with its squiggle-zip-plunk beats and “Reversevent,” which crackles and pops alongside big, warm, sustained tones—have enough momentum to keep the average listener. The rest, while exciting within the scope of digital music pioneering, are a bit like new-age music for chat rooms.
Aspects of Physics play at the Belly Up on Oct. 6. 858-481-8140. Then at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Downtown on Oct. 7. 619-234-1011.
Troy Johnson