5 out of 5

Label: Road Cone

Producer: Rollerball

I’m not going to claim to know how to describe Rollerball.  They are, for whatever reason, more ‘mysterious’ than Jackie-O, though this might just be due to JOMF’s indie fame.  But there’s also something about the playing style.  For all of their wandering multi-instrumental droneness, JOMF feels like a more consistent collective (not denying the mad amount of variance on any given album, but just that it sounds like a troupe of musicians) versus Rollerball’s mercurial playing style that could mask a rotating line of key players, all organized under some computer program plugged into their spines and given the term (by the government, of course) RLLRBALL.  Combine this, confusingly, with the ability to put out an album like ‘Bathing Music’ that shifts so soothingly from tribal beats to jazz to drone to almost trip-hop at moments (‘DJ Trecate’ – without the, uh, ‘trip’ I suppose) and it becomes that much more difficult to pin the experience down to some key genre terms.

Music doesn’t ‘float’ in and out – the airy, haunting female vocals remind me of From Quagmire and that has that fading sensation – it all feels very purposeful.  When the equally slippery male vocals trickle in on ‘Wyoming,’ it’s powerful without being demanding, cryptic without feeling inaccessible.  Yes, I’d say it leans toward ‘out’ music, but there’s nothing to find offensive or boring here – this could easily serve as background music, with its driving beat and occasionally identifiable guitar rhythms, but is just as valuable (and more rewarding) when plugged into yer ears via headphones.

I realize I still haven’t said much about the album proper but I dunno what to tell ya’.  If you’re familiar with the Road Cone label, it leans toward experimental jazz and drone, but it was also home to Jackie-O and I’d think if you dig their style you’re probably down with Rollerball as well.  Going album to album with ‘ball is tough, but Bathing Music does stand out as one of its more ‘complete’ sounding affairs, something that ebbs and flows from quiet to grinding to weird at timely intervals and doesn’t stretch anything out too long to make casual listeners restless.  It is gorgeous and creepy.  The end.