Excepter - "Debt Dept."

Excepter - Greenhouse/Stretch (Paw Tracks 2008)

Excepter - Debt Dept. / Paw Tracks

The pursuit of new sonic terrain under the auspices of the irritating "Brooklyn band" tag continue for Excepter, the magnificently polarizing sextet whose exploits continue to be both passionately loved and vehemently loathed, often for the same reasons. Excepter acts as the masculine median between their closest relatives: While Animal Collective act as the accessible optimists and Black Dice as the stubbornly obtuse weirdo outsiders, Gang Gang Dance and Excepter tread the narrow space between them as just concrete to be captured and just elusive enough to never be pegged down.

It is dangerous territory, but the sextet have hovered away from the nihilistic post-noise brainkraut (my definition in 2006) of Alternation and found something that the people who loved "Burgers" have already discovered: songs. This is a record with songs on it. While KA and Sunbomber were dominated by aural experimentation, and Alternation had highlights with "The Rock Stepper" and "Op Pop," here on Debt Dept. there is no question that you will find yourself remembering more than merely isolated moments.

In addition to "Burgers" on the bonus track here which you might've seen the video for, Excepter have made guitars a thing of the present and nowhere is this clearer than on the "sequence" the group used when they first opened up for Animal Collective. "Entrance 08" runs on a steady guitar loop as the usual sounds manipulate and flagellate and commiserate to form the alienating sound that has made them such targets for stereotyping. It's possible that their wardrobe might also have something to do with this, but that would be missing the point entirely. This group is totally devoid of image, of pigeonhole, of anything other than that most general of tags. Seriously, "Brooklyn band"? Do you think of Excepter when you hear Blood on the Wall?

"Shots Ring" is played inside a hollow jail while inmates keep the beat on the bars and discomfiting keys crowd the cells. What John Fell Ryan is saying often has little or no consequence to the listener, but here the words are billed as a meditation on the Virginia Tech killings and some of it can be heard clearly. It makes for a chilling vibe and certainly the most sinister song on the record. "Kill People," the following track that basically builds its rhythm around members reiterating the title, is too cheesy to be convincing and probably one of the weakest (if most accessible) on the album. Further proof of its insincerity: They were originally going to call it "Guns and Roses."

"Any and Every," the closing island jam fucking around with the Red Hot Chili Peppers on "Sunrise," and the split beatwork of "Greenhouse/Stretch" suggest that the group has potential to generate some wicked hip-hop beats; to hear the Clipse or Lil Wayne over one of these on a mixtape is a promising idea waiting to happen. Inevitable? One can only hope... For now, we are stuck with the outer-limit noise-pop transmitted via weak satellite and pumped through your speakers, blown mind in tow. What does Debt Dept. mean for Excepter in the long run? It seems like everybody has been willing these guys (and girls) on to produce something that has actual resonance, something that will stick with you. All of the potential is there, they seem to be saying, but you just have to coordinate and trim the fat. Boil Excepter down to its essence and you have the makings of a great group.

But Excepter are not interested in greatness or conventions, are not interested in taking the easy path, are not interested in following through. Two years ago, I thought Alternation was as accessible as they'd ever get. I acknowledge that I was wrong. But if the past is anything to go by, don't count on a hit machine anytime soon. This is the art of Brooklyn at its core, the tightrope they insist on walking for both their own good and the good of music. It's what makes Excepter's career of making sounds miraging as songs endlessly frustrating... But it's also what makes them endlessly fascinating.