2 out of 5

Label: Computer Students

Produced by: Steve Albini

One of my favorite new labels continues to explore bands from one of my favorite defunct labels – Africantape (which reissued the album from another another fave label…) – and it also happens to be a prime choice from that roster: The Conformists, of my home town of St. Louis and skritchin’ and scratchin’ around on the edges of no-wave post-rock with a very peculiar fuck-off sense of songwriting that’s in love with the history Steve Albini brings to their recordings, but also absolutely the bastard offspring of broken rockers like U.S. Maple. The Conformists’ brew can be downright unlistenable, but then it also often turns out to be awesome, once you get on its wavelength.

After a string of every-now-and-then albums of frustrating brilliance, the band took and little bit longer between now and then and ditched a naming convention they’d been using for releases for ‘Divorce,’ which, musically, felt like an interesting step forward and evolution on their hunt and peck attacks on riffage. While ‘Midwestless’ does stay in that vein… something changed. This is the same recording setup as that album (Albini up front; Matthew Barnhart doing mastering), but it’s just not as intense; the music feels behind a wall – going through the motions of being blustery and stop-and-start riffs from nowhere or, alternately, played out for like ten minutes for some very Skin Graft-y You Fantastic! drone effects – but never quite pushing past some musical barrier. The “then” is even further back this time – 8 years ago – and the group is down a member to a trio; either some hyperactivity in the vocalist has chilled, or they switched singers, as the lyrics feel kind of forcefully blunt as opposed to a former kind of oddball dumb bravado, and the offhand-to-scream singing style just isn’t as impassioned.

There’s always a learning curve with Conformists, but my problem this time around is that I’m not hearing the hooks that making putting in that time feel worth it – the moments between all the herky jerk where things align and rock, that encourage you to return and adjust your ears so they herky-jerk in tandem. In a world where I’ve heard less from this group, I think I might be more accepting of what is, honestly, a pretty standard Shellac-influenced post-punk kinda disc, and I think the B-side feels a bit more convincing, i.e. if I’d spun that side first, it might’ve nudged my opinion slightly more positive, but… I am a Conformists listener, and I followed the sequence provided. I’m happy Computer Students are still providing a platform for groups like this – and bring the packaging and design, as always – and I also hope this reignites something that has the group coming back with (to my ears) a sharper final product, but Midwestless is an oddly generic drop from a band that should never be associated with that descriptor.