Parts & Labor

Mapmaker

Image of Parts & Labor - Mapmaker
Record Label
Jagjaguwar

About this item

"Mapmaker" is the second Jagjaguwar/Brah album from Brooklyn noisepunks Parts & Labor. Expanding on the soaring melodies and cracked electronics of 2006's "Stay Afraid", P&L explores a wider array of berserk, malfunctioning instruments and intricate, pummeling rhythms. These twelve political/personal anthems about ambition and distraction boast bigger choruses, denser drones and shinier hooks. Adding new textures to Parts & Labor's searing pop-squall, the album features guest spots from flautist/megaphonist/vocalist Natalja Kent (of The Good Good) and guitarist Joe Kremer (of labelmates Pterodactyl). Opening surge "Fractured Skies" features a horn section (led by P&L's BJ Warshaw on sax) billowing up through the kaleidoscopic fuzz of electronics. Track 10 is a distorted-toy-keyboard take on the classic Minutemen antiwar spiel "King Of The Hill". Parts & Labor cite the following bands as influences and are totally cool with you name-checking them: Hüsker Dü, Sonic Youth, Boredoms, Minutemen, Neutral Milk Hotel and Amps For Christ.

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