BLACK DICE - Repo

Whereas former practice-space mates Animal Collective and Gang Gang Dance have arguably each made their music more listener-friendly in recent years, leave it to Brooklyn square-peg contrarians Black Dice to obstinately abstain from any such concessions, with single "Glazin'"'s mangled "Crimson & Clover" chord change the closest thing to a pop song on this new disc. Although Repo isn't much of a stylistic leap from their last two offerings Broken Ear Record and Load Blown (mostly maintaining an unsequenced, hand-punched jackhammer approach, letting inconsistencies funk up any arising rigidity), slight surprises include the trio pleasurably regressing into Boredoms-esque breakbeats and sproingy cartoon stabs straight off Super Roots 6 on both "Earnings Plus Interest" and "Ultra Vomit Craze", as well as an increased penchant for pitching their sound down and playing with screwed vocal samples, two traits this set shares with main mic inhaler Eric Copeland's recent solo output Alien In A Garbage Dump and RGAG.