Ultimate Success Today

ICEAGEに対するUSからの回答!?
Dirty ProjectorsやBeach Houseを手掛けるDavid Tolomeiを共同プロデューサーに迎えた、デトロイト・ポストパンク・シーンの雄、Protomartyrの最新アルバムがリリース!

前作『Relatives In Descent』はThe New York Times、Esquire、Newsweek、Loud & Quietといったメディアで年間ベストに選ばれ、各方面から高い評価を得ているデトロイトを代表するポスト・パンクバンドProtomartyr(プロトマーター)の最新作『Ultimate SuccessToday』リリース!!ニューヨーク州北部にある19世紀後半に建てられた教会をスタジオに改修した[ドリームランド・レコーディング・スタジオ]で録音され、Dirty ProjectorsやBeach Houseを手がけるDavid Tolomeiが共同プロデュースを努めている。今作は絶妙なギターのサウンドが他の楽器からの繊細なドローンサウンドによって引き立つ仕上がりとなっており、さらにそこにはJoe Caseyのボーカルが全てを包み込むように配置されている。今までの彼らのスタイルは踏襲しつつ、更に深みの増した傑作が誕生!!

If the guy stumbling out of a bar at 1:30 a.m. carrying a placard reading THE END IS NEAR decided to go into a recording studio and make an album, hed probably sound a little like Protomartyr frontman Joe Casey. And if that man were very lucky, hed have a band as good as Protomartyr backing him up; Caseys measured, articulate rage and disgust may fuel their music, but the echoey fury of Greg Ahees guitars, the primordial throb of Scott Davidsons bass, and the artfully implacable drumming of Alex Leonard communicate with a strength that matches Casey for thoughtful bad karma. Protomartyr create soundtracks for an apocalypse thats hovering just over the horizon, and while 2020s Ultimate Success Today was written and recorded before the multiple calamities of that year made themselves known, its a brilliant encapsulation -- even more than 2017s Relatives in Descent -- of a time of dashed hopes and entropy as our culture goes into what feels like its final state of implosion. Protomartyr had pushed the possibilities of their musical format as far as one might imagine they could go on Relatives in Descent, and Ultimate Success Today finds them evolving by stepping their ferocity back just a bit to let new sounds and textures into their music. Celebrated free jazz sax player Jemeel Moondoc and experimental reed artist Izaak Mills took part in the recording sessions, and their contributions are inspired, adding a refinement to the music that in no way blunts its impact or lessens the feeling of anxiety that lurks around nearly every corner. In addition, cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm and vocalist Half Waif (aka Nandi Rose Plunkett) sometimes buffer the impact of the band, while reinforcing the unending feeling of dread at the same time. Though the additional musicians and more spacious arrangements give Ultimate Success Today a sound that sets it apart from the groups previous work, it is still inescapably the work of Protomartyr. On songs like Bridge & Crown, Processed by the Boys, and Michigan Hammers they create something honestly unique in sound and impact, and the relatively languid closer Worm in Heaven is a reminder that theres a tarnished idealism lurking behind this bands venom. Ultimate Success Today sounds timely in 2020, but this music would be a smart, compelling accompaniment for staring into the abyss as it begins to look back, no matter what the year. ~ Mark Deming