I’ll say this, Black Cassette from Wreck And Reference is good, real good; in fact, this debut has a bunch of people really going out of their way praising this “record” (OK, OK I know this is either on cassette tape or CD but stop hassling me and just listen for minute) and for good reason because the band eschews conventional methods of instrumentation for both the styles of music that they play and even the style of music that they purportedly display here. Right, by now many of you who take the time to read these diatribes that espouse the wonder and beauty or abject of ugliness of records and music know that I think genres are a plague (if you have not realized this yet then you are just not reading close enough) because it pigeon holes people immensely; but one pet peeve of mine for certain is how people get all drunked up and stupid and start calling bands and records things that they are not, and this has certainly caused me to stew a great deal about Wreck And Reference and their debut.
In a bygone era of underground music (specifically the hardcore and punk sub genre) there was a unique casting off of heavy Neanderthal styles of music and many great bands were considered passé almost immediately overnight; the masculinity of music was almost falsely absconded in favor of a more sensitive but spastic and emotionally crushing anti- joy de vivre, and it was a confusing time for a great deal of people as an entire sub culture underwent a strange identity crisis. Some great bands pioneered, or more accurately, beat to death the loud soft loud compositional dynamic to create some arresting music that people still point to as influences; now you may be sitting there wondering what the hell I am going on about at this point and how it could possibly relate to Wreck And Reference’s Black Cassette, but please, bear with me because this is what I am reminded of when Black Cassette is playing.
Let me start from the end of the song, “A Lament” because as the wailing vocals ring out of the cacophonous musical climax completely reminds me of what bands like You & I and to some extent even Indian Summer were doing when they were recording and playing, even if Wreck And Reference do not use standard instrumentation; similarly, the loud and soft dynamic interplay is in full force on the “Surrendering” to the point where I think that this band is secretly a throwback. Now, I am not sure that the hooligans in Wreck And Reference do it (or did it) on purpose but the crushing musical fog that lays the foundation to “All The Ships Have Been Abandoned” bring to mind both the Breeders and more closely, Medicine; neither comparison is terrible but rather pretty damn estimable because Wreck And Reference seamlessly meld this sound into a massive piece of music. “No Shepard” is easily my favorite track on The Black Cassette (and the most twisted part is that this song is not on the cassette version or the legal download (you pirates beware this fact)) with its shimmering music structure and rebounding drum parts wracking your brain incessantly like some strange noisy neo-vamp that just hits me all the right ways.
Ultimately, Wreck And Reference pull off the Black Cassette well enough to make you forget anything that you hear about this release; and to be frank, I love this release for doing just that, making the music speak for its god damn self rather than some know it all hack like me. Go get this while you still can or be forced to pose when this pops up on people’s end of year lists or secret guilty pleasures or when people stare at you funny after they had said, “You haven’t heard Wreck And Reference?”
