Maserati: Passages

First of all, calm down. It's not a new album from then Georgian psychedelic post-rock band. That pleasure will not arrive until 2010. What we have here is a compilation.

Taking all four tracks from their split E.P with Zombi, and adding three remixes (only one of which is of a song featuring on Passages in its raw state) as well as one brand new song from the band, we have an eight track album which is sure to get fingers a-moving.

We do not mean that in the finger-tapping sense. We mean it in an: for all those fortunate enough to listen to their music in MP3 format, they will be able to use their fingers to remove the waste of space remixes from the track-list. Reaching a combined length of over 21 minutes, these three tracks positively wallow in repetitive mediocrity. You can literally (and we mean literally in the literal sense, not literally in the non-literal hyperbolic sense) skip through "The World Outside [Thee Loving Hand Remix]" thirty seconds at a time and still hear exactly the same digitised riff playing to the same skippy hi-hat rhythm. Occasionally blips and blops make an appearance, as do garbled vocals, but this is a song which has spent its idea capital faster than a child's pocket money in the fireworks, puppy and sweet shop (warning: never... combine these three things, it's like a game of paper, scissors, rock where the firework always wins).

"Inventions [Justin Van Der Volgen Remix]" shows a little more regard for structure, yet manages to be similarly boring. The Steven Moore remix of "Monoliths", well, it's a song you've only just listened to four tracks ago. It'd have to be pretty impressive to present a fresh outlook on a song which builds on its highs while shifting the song in a whole new direction. Yet, it isn't and it doesn't. So save yourself the bother, delete these three and let's get on with the music that's actually worthwhile here.

So then, this five-track, eighteen-and-a-half minute 'album' certainly offers a fresh-spin on post-rock dynamics. Eschewing slow-builds and crescendos, the focus is instead on laying down a base-coat of melody before splurging all manner of multicoloured paint over the top. We'd pair up influences of God Is An Astronaut and The Music for this comparison. "Monoliths" lays down its central motif almost instantly, subjecting the cyclic melody to various panning and filtering adjustments throughout, but still retaining its constancy. This approach to song structure reminds us of riding a lift through a myriad of rooms, each adding their own signature to the 'lift music' as you make your sojourn.

A more traditional approach is taken on "No More Sages". A central mantra is still paramount to the cause but dynamic deviations briskly rappel around this spine frequently sending the song in new directions while always anchored to common ground through the one perennial guitar melody.

Yes, you could surmise that these are the traits of a jam-band masquerading as post-rock, but it's a formula that works consistently well. When the splashes of wah-wah and phaser start to affix themselves to our five remaining songs, it as if a familiar friend just got a makeover. It's still the same friend Jim, but not as we know it.

As for us, we're going to stop using reality TV and Star Trek for our references and become a little more contemporary in our references. There's this show called The Simpsons, apparently...