5 out of 5

Label: WRWTFWW Records

Produced by: ?

What the heck, 1984?

So I’m too long into this game to hyperbole at you about my surprise at something like Startled Insects’ music being from 1984: that I can’t believe how modern it sounds; that it’s impossible music like this was being made X years ago. Surprises – like Insects – still exist, of course, but I have more of a grasp than I did in my youth of music’s evolution over the years, and that it’s rarely been as simple as divvying up eras into disco, or punk, or grunge, and so on. I’ve had the good fortunes to be able to explore, meaning I’ve discovered that as soon as we had access to whichever tools, we were recording with them: cracked jazz has been around for decades; art-as-music (e.g. recording a silent room…) has always been there; and anything that seems net new can generally be traced back to its sources – which isn’t to suggest that it doesn’t take someone to think up some initial spin on a norm, but more to acknowledge that Started Insects are in company with industrial experimenters like Neubauten, casting back to electro-kraut like Cluster, maybe fiddling with expansive jazz from the Nonesuch label, and/or nods to references that are completely foreign to me but are part of your musical education.

But also: for those bands / labels mentioned, part of that historical tracing sees long discographies, before and after those touchpoints: you can find the Wheres and Hows of how those influences came to be, and how they evolved. Meanwhile, Startled Insects – though the band members were eventually named – have maintained a pretty anonymous roster, and even when knowing that roster, there’s not much obvious tracing to do outside of the band’s output (as Startled Insects or Insects), which, overall… is pretty sparse. It is very much as though SI came to be, nigh intact, and has carved out a very particular sound, still unmatched, that’s lasted for decades.

Yeah, okay, I’m all music-educated and junk, but still: What the heck, 1984? It’s like the year walked up with a glove and slapped me across the face, signaling a duel, challenging my so-called education: because I can’t really comprehend this album (which is a reconfigured, new-to-wax previously-released collection + bonus tracks of the group’s two EPs on Antenna Records) as actually having existed and no one told me, or referenced it. How have I made it this far and not know about Startled Insects?

Geez.

(Yeah, I’m getting to an actual review; give me a break – I’m in shock over here.)

Startled Insects’ sound is somewhere between those noisemakers referenced, but it’s not nearly as… classifiable as all that. The backing is, I’d say, industrial: while there’s a slight 80s gloss here, imbued by electronics, the band maintained a purposeful focus on blended mediums (partially their motivation for obscuring their identities – not wanting to distract from their presentation, which, live, often combined video with music): the drumming is thus more primal than clanging, and you’ll hear varied percussion as well, of a vaguely – truly vaguely; not indulgent – worldbeat vibe. Atop this are a blend of synths, which hop between playful, De Roubaix-like cinematics, and forward-looking chiptune, albeit played with instruments sounding closer to strings and woodwinds than keys. An improvisational spirit of jazz haunts the background, but much like the worldbeat, never overtakes the music, or diverges things into any true freejazz: the music is wholly spirited, and inspiring, but is also controlled – the rhythmic focus is the krautrock influence.

The balance of these elements is sincerely uncanny. I kept waiting for that one off track, where the group would reach for something beyond their grasp – try to rock too hard, or dive too deep into genre – but they’d inevitably pull back; keep the momentum going, and keep the rhythm focused. I’d say I have no words for it, but obviously I do; however, while the album is on, I am rather speechless. It’s the type of recording you want to share, regardless of when it was made: truly timeless stuff, that’s wide-spanning in appeal while being utterly baffling in concept, and kind of definitionally outsider art / music based on the way the band has kept their identities out of the mix even as the players moved on to some wildly notable credits.

WRWTFWW Records name, though ridiculous, has proven to be accurate time and again, and they’ve done SI (and me!) a ton of justice by representing this, switching up the track order to, in my opinion, make this the ultimate front-to-back experience of these eight tunes.