Noisy art school dropouts, or at least that's what it sounds like upon first listen of
Fly Pan Am's
Ceux Qui Inventent N'ont Jamais Vécu. The line between noise and experimentation is often fine, and that's especially the case with this recording. At times the tape glitches and lack of a cohesive center can be interesting, but as the quartet runs on they sound like one of the early post-rock Chicago groups on a bad acid trip trying to find their way around, all the while getting caught up and tripping over their own feet. At the same time, though, there's a certain post-rock beauty to the minimal instrumentations and flowing, yet sort of messy grooves. To the noise/experimentation aficionado there's something to be said about this release. It certainly has the right energy and the immediacy of expression is certainly there, it just gets a little far out and repetitive at times. Fans of East Lansing, MI, experimenters the Rattling Wall Collective will probably enjoy this recording a great deal, as well as fans of the more abstract Isotope 217 recordings. ~ Matt Borghi