Excepter: "KKKKK"

Where Panda Bear's "Carrots" channels Brian-Wilson-the-modifier harmonies and unctuous pop into a swatch of touchstone styles that -- through shades of raggae, surf, noise, old Animal Collective, um, soul and Brazilian psychedelia -- makes obvious conversation with itself, "KKKKK" channels seemingly everything it can into graphing a disjointed half-word. Granted ("graphing"), Excepter's latest trick is an edited amalgam of five live joints turned over to the rules of consistency, this from a New York band known for screwy "anti-music," a word that's actually been coined in their midst, or something. And they, basically, fail at building a context for these shunted performances already torn out of an original context, rending "KKKKK" a tedious, disconcerting passing of rhythm. Whereas Panda Bear reaches for bliss and gets its knuckles rapped only to sound holy loud and vivacious in the meantime, Excepter picks up notions of mood and cadence, dividing cold, slurred, claustrophobic jams with moments of cosmic brilliance, but never hinting at any purpose or significant sympathy in the individual parts. The elastic drones and scurrying whistles, the drowned bells treading behind thin metal clicks and indiscernible chanting, the sheer breadth of lichenous noise crawling up and down this confined space, these apples of poisonous space never get to hold their own, if only because they're too fucking big too swallow. So, after two scurrile points of cavernous bowel-shaking, "KKKKK" parts into its "K"s and exists in some organ echo and Damon Albarn processed drawl before wiping the chopping block clean. I'm not in the mood for this.

All this windy diction only to be able to conclude: One should never compare apples and "Carrots."