Search - A Frames :: Black Forest

Thee A-Frames

Jeffums | Illinois | 07/14/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"First off let me just that when by giving this thing 4 stars i DON'T mean to discredit this album, it's just that 5 stars means it's gotta be perfect, and very few albums are, you know?. If you are unaware, this is the A-Frames third album, following 2002's 1 and 2003's 2. This is another phenomenal record, and by all means you should go out and buy this NOW. I don't really have anything to compare it too, although i'm sure comparisons exist, but to me the A-Frames have always had a unique sound all to themseleves.



This album starts out with one of three renditions of the title track. Each Black Forest version sort of builds off of the other, and are inserted at the beginning, middle, and the end of the record. The next three tracks, Experiment, Galnea, and Death Train are all classic A-Frames. The drumming by Lars is unbeatable, and has always been a staple of the sound. Track 6, Eva Braun, is a Screamers cover. The B-Side is filled with plenty more great tunes (sorry for lack of description), other than the throw out track My Teacher. However, cool story about that song is that every one who took a speaking part in it did so without knowing what the others would say, or how it would fit together in the end, so i guess it could have turned out A LOT worse. The B-Side of the album also contains the awesome song Negative, a tune that will hurt your ears at full volume (yea!). A really loud version of Black Forest finishes this thing off.



If I were to compare this to the other A-Frames records, i would say that this is a close tie to record #2, with the first one ahead by miles. The first A-Frames record is without a doubt one of the best things to come out this decade. (...). Scott S. can hook you up with those two on CD only (the vinyl will cost you a fortune). I reccommend buying anything you can find by the A-Frames, it will make your life better, NO JOKE. Finally, if you dig this you should check out these bands: The Intelligence (Drummer of A-Frames Lars's other band), The Dipers (Some sort of A-Frames connection), The Popular Shapes (Less of an A-Frames connection), and even the Factums (Do not have anything officially released to my knowledge but look out for em!). Yea."

Death and nihilism--how ironic!

Scott Bresinger | New York, USA | 09/09/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The A-Frames, from Seattle, play a brand of noisy, aggressive post-punk that will be familiar to fans of noisy, agggressive post-punk music, especially if it emanates from the deepest bowels of the 80's underground. If you know the chant then say it along with me: Birthday Party, Swans, Einsturzende Neubauten, The Fall, Bauhaus and good ol' Joy Division too. For folks like me, "The Black Forest" is a virtual nostalgia trip for a scene they were too young to experience first hand. If you did experience it first hand, you'd probably give it a "ho-hum, been-there-drank-that reaction. Of course, whereas the A-Frames' favorite bands approached their nihilism with a (mostly) straight face, on "Black Forest" it's delivered with a po-mo ironic wink (sneer) and a faux Teutonic attitude that announces "I know it's only goth-punk, but I like it." When the vocalist starts chanting "television microwave" like Mark E. Smith working at Radio Shack, you know he's referencing Mark E. Smith, and he knows you know it. The whole album is a feedback loop of ironic gestures, but since sincerity is the new irony, the A-Frames invest it with such raw spleen that you know they mean it, man. And they know you know it. So if you're people like me, you'll eat this up, but I just wonder what a newcomer to this style will take away from it other than a shopping list of cool bands."

Rhymes cuneiform with uniform

John L Murphy | Los Angeles | 08/28/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I had not read any Amazon reviews before buying this, but my reference points were Joy Division meets the Liars for the vocals, and a stripped-down PIL-Neubaten meets a more industrialized The Fall, if only for the latter's repetition. The standout tracks were Black Forest II and III, U-Boat, and Death Train, but the whole effort, packing a lot of variety into a few minutes. The primitive, clanking, robotic nature of this band makes for a love-hate relationship, but if you like the forebears and current-bears of this reconstruction of various proto- and post-punk 70s sounds, this is an excellent primer.



Like others, I have not been able to find out about this band's earlier two albums; perhaps SubPop will re-release them? With the support of a "major-indie" (sic) label, a fan base awaits, as many of us are finding out about this band only now due to the exposure given this record. Honorable mention: credited band members: Emphysema, Ricketts, and Cholera."