5 out of 5

Label: Discrepant (LP version)

Produced by: Thomas Dimuzio (mastered by)

I don’t really know what to say about People Like Us – aka Vicki Bennett – and I don’t really know how I was properly existing before experiencing her music.  Found sound chop n’ cut artists generally aren’t my bag; there’s normally a slightly snarky m.o. to the mix that doesn’t reward repeat listens for me – like, hey, funny sample, what else ya’ got? – and the genre either tends to err toward too random or too beat-based to feel justified to my ears.  I don’t get it; fully willing to admit it.

But Bennett, via her PLU identity, does seem to get it, and somehow allows me to get it.  For surface intents and purposes, the surface snark is there – witness her role in this collabo with Wobbly and Matmos, Wide Open Spaces, reigning the loops back to references to Ponderosa and country music – however, she seems to purposefully latch herself to oddities to push past them into something deeper.  What, exactly, that deeper is can shift throughout relistens, but juxtaposing that ‘snark,’ there’s this undercurrent of darkness, even as she’s editing all of her discovered pieces into ADD white noise.  Coming back to this release, the celebration of ‘Wide Open Spaces’ with the constantly interrupted attempted returns to renditions of that Ponderosa theme are like battling sentiments of Americana.  It’s bizarre, and as trance-like soothing as it is arresting; that is, you can listen to it either way.

And not to lump this all in Bennett’s court: while I’m not familiar with Wobbly, I can attribute the musicality of this release, and it’s palatable flow, to its co-artists.  There’s an amazing conversation between these contributors, pushing us toward bouncy rhythms and then back to briefly jarring coughs (literally) or sputters; drug-slow climbs to jaunty, marching ditties, looping ’round and ’round – go ahead and imagine a lasso, or noose… – Vicki’s sampling.

I had no idea PLU existed as of a month ago, and now, slowly trying to work my way through Bennett’s exhaustive number of releases, I can’t understand how I’ve “heard” music without this unique variation on it.