Wisconsin noise rock mavens
IfIHadAHiFi sound tighter and more focused on their second album,
No More Music, but the manic aural scattergun approach that was their calling card on
Ones and Zeroes is still very much in evidence. With
Noise Lesion out of the band and Reno Loner taking over on keyboards and electronics, the samples and found sounds that were a major part of the debut are mostly absent on
No More Music, and Loner's contributions sound more like an organic part of the songs rather than a musical spanner in the works (albeit an exciting and imaginative spanner). Then again, "organic" isn't quite the right word for
IfIHadAHiFi; the band remains gloriously unnatural as
Yale Delay's harsh and edgy guitars,
Mister Alarm's throbbing bass, and
Doctor Awkward's piledriver drumming collide against one another like pinballs but somehow come together at crucial moments like fingers folding into a fist, ready to slam into the center of your face. Experience and roadwork have honed the group's attack and
No More Music is noticeably tighter and more precise than the debut, as the songs spin out with a relentless intensity that leaves the more measured approach of
Ones and Zeroes in the dust. The curious but genuine wit of the debut isn't as prominent this time, but the
Stevie Wonder cover that closes out the album not only suggests these guys could actually be funky if they wanted to, but that there's a human heart behind this weird machine that makes the whole thing even more remarkable. On the opening cut,
IfIHadAHiFi announce that they want to steal our potential energy, but that has to be a lie -- they clearly have enough power to light a major metropolis for months on end, and
No More Music confirms they know just what to do with all that spare voltage.