Parts & Labor

Receivers (Jagjaguwar)

Anger subsided, the pots and pans have returned to the cupboard, and Parts & Labor have found melody. A harmonious balance touched 2007’s Mapmaker, but here, the Brooklyn quartet becomes Receivers, mixing found sound with classic chord progressions and multilayered vocals on album No. 4. The addition of Sarah Lipstate on guitar and tape clearly allowed for greater compositional freedom. Seven-minute opener “Satellites” melts originators Dan Friel and B.J. Warshaw’s clamorous tendencies into psychedelic order, eventually exploding in a modern uproar. Follow-up “Nowheres Nigh,” driven higher still by new drummer Joe Wong’s maneuvering, finally collapses as an anthem of resurrection. Sing-alongs coalesce (“Little Ones”), anthems crawl along time-lapsed highways (“The Ceasing Now”), and fan blades sheer off the edges (“Prefix Free”). Parts & Labor took its own advice: “Savor the power of revision.” (2:10pm, Stage 1.)

***.5

This article appears in November 7 • 2008.

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