3 out of 5

Label: Righteous Babe Records

Produced by: Andrew Gilchrist

Moving to a slightly higher profile label – Ani Difranco’s Righteous Babe Records – Drums & Tuba would also be partnered with producer Andrew Gilchrist for their final few records, starting a relationship that appended their base guitar / drums / horns jamming with more allowance for (and perhaps more studio access to) experimentation. But taking proper advantage of that requires some practice, and that’s what it feels like we’re hearing on Vinyl Killer. 

For the album’s bookends, which are more “traditional” D&T pop, Gilchrist encourages a sense of structure and focus for the group: these are songs, and not the more wandering compositions of albums’ past. This sacrifices some of the tracks’ peaks, keeping instead the focus instead of melody and rhythm, but it also clearly energizes the band: the music sounds lively and emotive. 

After the contemplative expressiveness of The 10 Attacks Of Dagger, though, the album transitions into its midsection of experimentation: led into by a minute of chatter, the tracks here are all interesting, but rarely very engaging. Stripped down drum experiments; repetitive dabblings with funk; open-ended ambience… the stylistic stretching is appreciated, it just doesn’t stack well against what felt like, previously, an injection of structure. And while that sequencing may be very purposeful, none of these experiments are so individually driving as to keep me tuned in the whole while, and when we finally get back around to something that’s a bit more immediate, having cycled through so many different stylistic pokes and prods prevents it from having as much impact as it might otherwise. 

Which isn’t an indictment on those experiments, as there are elements to enjoy (and, as mentioned, they are not uninteresting) but the contrast on this album between songs and such pursuits is too great, exacerbated by the rigid sequencing. 

But: this was the stepping stone needed to evolve past the potential limits of being a jam band, and D&T would properly use the tools from this workout to deliver some further great albums.