Shadow In The Cracks Shadow In The Cracks

Brothers Jim and Mike Blaha constitute 66.6% of Minneapolis’s best export this side of Target: The Blind Shake. Rounded out and beaten forward by co-founder Dave Roper, the trio exercises undeservedly antiquated practices, such as: (1) marrying quality-control with a hyper-prolific release and touring schedule; (2) allowing the resultant discography to boast an uncommon variety and scope; (3) what might be the best live show in contemporary garage-punk / related underground; and (4) appropriating garage-punk, class-of-1990 noise-rock and blunt-force post-punk, out of which emerges a largely proprietary mountain of scuzz-pop menace. If the brothers’ new endeavor, Shadow In The Cracks, was a “side project” in quality of sound and aesthetic, the term would’ve landed in the opening sentence. However, the world deserves to consider the nine-song, self-titled debut on its own terms. Everything here is natural; nothing is overt or a convenient diversion obscuring a deficiency in song-craft. Reverb is used but only where it makes total sense—on the vocals, where it accentuates the mood and menace of each song. This record is not here to distribute hi-fives and constant positive affirmation. It is about how the universe can gradually compound the duller negativities of life and state of mind; the conditional negation of contentment when maintaining survival mode.