Friday, September 7, 2007

nu musik: Enon


Two months after popular music lost one it's most adored benefactors (The Notorious B.I.G.) underground music lost one of their own: Brainiac's Tim Taylor. Taylor died in a car accident in May of '97 following the release of Brainiac's most ambitious EP, Electro Shock For President. At the time Brainiac was working on their major label debut for Interscope Records and had found recent sucess playing Lalapalooza, opening for Beck, and working with the Pixies' Kim Deal on their EP Internationale.

The group disbanded after Taylor's death and Brainiac second-in-command John Schmersal went on to form electro-noise trio Enon. In a Wilco-esq fashion, Enon's line-up changed slightly following each release. The band added female bassist / vocalist Toko Yasuda prior to releasing the critically acclaimed High Society in 2002. Enon's newest album, Grass Geysers...Carbon Clouds, marks their first album of new material since 2003's Hocus Pocus. In stores October 9th, Grass Geysers...Carbon Clouds will also be Enon's first followup with the same lineup.

Grass Geysers... is perhaps the most focused of Enon's releases. The song lengths haven't changed, but their directness has. They still sound like the Pixies' second cousin. This time around, Toko's vocals are more pop-oriented and at times she sounds like VV of The Kills. Overall, Grass Geysers... is an excellent album that should excite Enon fans almost as much as a live show. Well, ok, not quite. Did I mention that Enon's known for their live shows? Well they are. They're touring this fall so check 'em out.

Enon - Sabina [from Grass Geysers...Carbon Clouds]
Enon - In The City [from 2002's High Society]

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