The two co-founders of New York's Run Roc record label, Dave Palaitis and D. McNany, issued this EP of production experimentation in 2005 under the moniker
Neutral Mute. Composed of several short tracks that pursue a melding of punk rock's attitude with hardcore techno's jittery grooves, the release was not far afield from labelmate
Jonathan Vance's
Sylvia the Eagle EP, with which it was often paired. But while
Vance fancied himself a slam poet with noisome dance inclinations,
Neutral Mute is less about the message and more about communicating directly to the hips with programmed percussion and repetitive riffs. The grooves start out strong but rarely develop in a direction, making it a fortunate thing that the tracks are as brief as they are. A closing bonus track, "No No No," adds nothing to the mix.
Roc-Sac speaks well of Palaitis and McNany as producers, but poorly of McNany as a songwriter, and is an inessential example of the pogoing dance-punk of the period. ~ Joseph McCombs