tunnels

Crystal Arms

14 July 2011

Some say  Nick Bindeman stopped experimenting and went mainstream now he’s decided to release his new LP “The Blackout” as Tunnels. A dark tale of synths and dirty electro which translates into a rough unfiltered set of bass lines and live guitars. Very TLS, a bit New Order, and hopefully a whole new world of sounds to discover from August 16th on Thrill Jockey.

Nick (aka Tunnels) best known for his previous collaborative projects as Eternal Tapestry and Jackie-O Motherfucker has brought some of his 2009 homonym album tracks back for his new record and “Crystal Arms” comes as the first single with a video by Rebecca Carlisle-Healy.

Taking after synth pop pioneers such as Charles de Goal and Crash Course in Science, with a hint of Throbbing Gristle, The Blackout still manages to resonate with the new. Many songs revolve around sampled sources which Bindeman then collages together to create the framework for any given piece. For example, opener “Crystal Arms” draws its slightly off kilter pulse from a Laurie Anderson performance in which she sports a pair of contact mic’d sun glasses which pick up the vibrations of her fists pounding on her skull. With these fractured and psychedelic tones, Tunnels join the ranks of Silk Flowers, Gary War, and others that call labels like Not Not Fun and Sacred Bones home, all the while taking shards of the dark ‘80s pop sound reminiscent of Gary Numan and The Cure, and reconfiguring them for the underground.

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