5 out of 5

Label: Skin Graft

Produced by: Westminster Brown (recorded, mixed by)

I’ve been poking around other reviews, trying to get a sense for how I want to feel about Pre’s Epic Fits.  I really kinda like it… but am I missing something?

There are the inevitable comparisons to Melt-Banana – noise rock!  Japanese people! – and criticisms of a lack of depth or originality, and I don’t have any argumentative denials for the latter, and sort of shrug-off the “sounds like” nature of the former.  This particular sound – a “no wave” kinda thing – is like the grindcore of indie rock: Its been kicking around for years via millions of bands, basically just re-energizing what works.  At album length, some songs are going to hit a repetitive note or two, but can you listen to the album without getting bored?  Would you listen to it again?

And Pre, for me, meet these very basic qualifiers, but add some flourishes which I’d say allow for the noise barrage to actually be more aurally palatable, and thus… pleasing?

Not an adjective often leveraged for spazz rock, but vocalist Akiko’s shriek is well-balanced in the mix and amounts more to punctuating shouts, like a vocal fist pump to accompany the musical intensity, setting her against potential (then) peers like Blood Brothers or Arab on Radar, where an atonal singer spouting lyrical oddities is part of the package.  The music also finds ways to break things up, whether its an extended jam on Scenes From a 1963 Los Angeles Love-In – featuring some great drumming and paying tribute to Westminster Brown’s production, which otherwise is easy to overlook with the minute-long blasts of intensity – or a great horn freak-out on Popping Showers.

So, no: I can’t defend against the general nothing-new take on Pre’s debut, their popularity at the time, as is often the case, in part due to a live show notoriety, which could also be seen as just another copycat move.  But oh well.  What they do, derivative in its niche genre it might be, I feel they do exceedingly well.  Palpable energy recorded and reproduced for maximal enjoyment and replayability.