Alchemy Records

ARCD-056

Tracks

Hesitation

What About Me

Indecision Of The Night

Function

Wish

Grumbling

Hijokaidan Warp

Breathing

I Have Nothing To Say

Dance/Slow

Review

What About Me, the Nihilist Spasm Band's fifth release, is the album that will help the band get out of its natal London, Ontario. Released by the Japan noise label Alchemy Records, it introduced the band to the young audiences of Merzbow and Solmania. Thanks to adequate recording facilities and exemplary shape, What About Me is also the NSB's most accomplished album. This CD contains some of the band's best lyrics and vocal ideas, like the self-explanatory "Hesitation" or "What About Me," where Bill Exley claims that "The sun never sets on the British empire/It sets on me!" and states in an ultimate meta-dadaist rant: "I want to teach the world to sing/My song!/My song!/My song!" The noise improvisations are very short in terms of NSB parameters, mostly ranging from one to four minutes. It focuses the listener's attention on the lyrics. Two extended numbers (15 and 18 minutes) are included. After 26 years together, the Nihilist Spasm Band is heard here at its creative peak. The sound palette varies from one track to another, ideas are concise and well rendered, the Dada, noise, and improv elements of the band's sound are perfectly measured. The closing "Dance/Slow" with its alternating tempos and Art Pratten's fantastic violin work might be one of their best improvisations recorded. -- François Couture (from www.allmusic.com)