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Jesus, Brick Layer Cake is a strange "band." Todd Trainer's (Shellac,Rifle Sport) one-man project that allows him to step out in front ofthe kit occasionally, hasn't released a record since "Tragedy Tragedy"in 1994. Trainer took the occasion of hs moving to Chicago to recordwith Steve Albini, and he plays every note, every beat, and sings everyline on "Whatchamacallit." And it's just getting weirder, folks. Again,it's the same formula: simple song stuctures, slower tempos, and alldriven by low register growl of contempt. Hell, it's even the same typeof cover photo as the last record. And the only thing that has changedis that apparently Trainer's contempt for most things around him. It'sincreased exponentially. From the first track, 'Stars,' Trainer isshredding people and situations apart. This is the harshest song withthat title EVER. Sample lyric: "One who fucked straight to the fuckingtop and didn't fucking stop fucking/blows everyone off." The musicitself leaves a lot to be desired, as it's often a bit cacaphonous withone crunchy guitar and one wailing guitar clashing. When it comestogether, though, it's pretty good. 'Softie,' for instance is justplain sinister, and would work very well if BLC played a haunted house.The problem is that since Marilyn Manson and others have used Trainer'svocal delivery style in the past few years, it's become very stale. Itdoesn't have the same affect, in fact on repeated listens I skip mosttracks. It all sounds incredibly juvenile, particularly because of thelyrics, specifically the use of the "fuck" word. If you liked BLCbefore, you'll probably like this one. I'm gonna say it was pretty goodthe first listen, pretty boring on repeated ones, and definitely listenbefore you buy.
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