Quickspace
The Death of Quickspace
Matador / The Kitty Kitty Corporation (U.K.)

On The Death of Quickspace, the still-very-much-alive group coughs up more of the Anglicized Kraut-pop found on its first two albums and singles too numerous to name.

The bluesy revelry, Ennio Morriconey soundtracks and tricky tape looping of the epic, sprawling, frequently amazing Precious Falling have given way to a spirit of song craftsmanship akin to that on the group's ramshackle eponymous first record.

But there's a cohesion and sophistication present here that was missing on the first album, which often came across as unrelated studio takes of a bunch of great songs the group had been playing live for ages.

The five-piece doesn't pull any punches, starting things off with "The Lobbalong Song." Like many of Quickspace's tunes, the source of inspiration for the song's title remains a mystery, but the lyrics aren't really important here, kids. This is a band that once penned the lyric:

Friend. You could be my friend. We could watch the World Cup. And you could hold my hand.

The lead-off track begins as a shimmering, throbbing Moog orgy, through which a Spanish-sounding electric guitar bobs and weaves. Female vocalist Nina Pascale warbles out her lines in the trademark, off-kilter Quickspace way. And — in much the same way we didn't care that Mom hit all the notes during those summer evening lullabies — we don't mind Pascale's (or later Cullinan's) numerous flubs.

Then, partway through, the Moog splits the scene and is replaced by an almost grungy guitar. The beats get a bit louder, and Pascale begins a hypnotic chant of the phrase, "They are watching." Somehow, around 1:25, the band just switches tempo and style mid-beat, and as you think back, you're not quite sure how or where in the song it happened. It's then that the group's talent becomes apparent.

Virtually every member of the group knows his or her role and instrument. The group seamlessly changes tempos at the drop of a hat. Frontman and lead guitarist Tom Cullinan knows the very best can use two or three chords and not sound like amateurish, wannabe Ramones. He pulls them apart, stretches them out, turns them inside-out, rips them to pieces and puts them back together.

It's not an album full of pure pop, though. "They Shoot Horse Don't They" and "Climbing a Hill" are longer, plodding, slow-building bluesy numbers, while "Munchers No Munchers" and "Lob It" are merely plays on two similarly titled songs.

Having succeed with "Obvious," off of Precious Falling, the group opts again to do the ballady thing, with the downtempo "Gloriana" and "A Rose." "Gloriana" is a sweet, duet-style (in the sense that Quickspace duets are basically just Cullinan and Pascale singing together, just slightly out-of-sync) ode to the woman of the title. The song ends amid a lot of beautiful noise and the pair chanting "Gloriana" over and over like some sort of indie rock mantra.

"The Munchers" is the group's first song to feature clever, often-hilarious, semi-political lyrics:

We are the killers and the rapists of ourselves. We know we've trained this world, so we're looking 'round for other worlds.

All sung in a sing-songy, off-key voice of course.

The whole affair clocks in at just under 45 minutes, which I'm guessing is a little less than half the length of the double LP version of Precious Falling (The CD version lopped off two tracks and came in just under 78 minutes). But the group's probably better off for it. As the first Quickspace album to get wide U.S. distribution, it's also probably the most suitable introduction to the group, though if you're impressed by this, you'd do well to pick up the others, too.

— Eric Wittmershaus (ericw at flakmag dot com)