"Face exposed on the block of another street / Stop and pose another brand you gotta compete..."
The progressive post punk ramble and rock of "Infinite Games", by Consumables, the fierce NYC-based art punk quartet, is a big bass laden banger with funky sax embellishments, with snappy free form drumming, layers of guitars and a super dense vocal patter expanding the sonic narrative more as the song pushes forward, rolling and picking up intersecting musical layers as it goes. On a previous review of their track "Great Design", the vocal persona felt more talky and I likened that overall lean toward outfits like Squid or Do Nothing, but this track leans the other way. Nice to hear this band exhibiting a myriad of colors.
Like an amalgam of the full throttle craziness of James Chance & The Contortions colliding with the proggy post punk pummeling of Gang of Four as distilled by Pere Ubu and Pavement or Cracker (or something like that), Consumables feels like a progressive outfit intent on shaking things up from a compositional aspect. AND maybe it is the dense storytelling too that helps supercharge the sound, a sonic engine that never stops.
LYRICS (waves of them):
Anchored Inn, and I cannot lose again
Seeing red, playing dead, stale beer I breathe it in
Clout Chasing, I suggest you look within
Snakeskin, lying in, you have to make your point again
Lines are straightening, this is an awakening
Your attitude’s disabling, Maybe I’m mistaken in
Thinking it’d resolve itself
Shrinking of the commonwealth
Clinking of the empty shelves
Once was known now is felt
What kind of creature am I? I’ve got to figure it out
What kind of creature am I? I’ve got to figure it out
Getting caught again, between the start and the end
I see its size, I see its shape, I see… I see its color
A distant friend looking back at the bend
A warm embrace, a lover’s face uncovered
A known regret, to repeat and dissect
I see its size, I see its shape, I see… I see its color
A secret kept in your own dialect
Ill-equipped and I can not remain tight-lipped
New words now emerge writing a new manuscript
Recommit, thinking of the big picture
escape from the circular, my doubts are all re-assured
Belt it from the mountain top
Melting of the permafrost
Breathing in a dual exhaust
truth is in the paradox
Deviating from the script
Extinguishing the dissonance
Playing a new instrument
No boundaries I’m infinite
What kind of creature am I? I’ve got to figure it out
What kind of creature am I? I’ve got to figure it out
I feel limitless, this is what freedom is
I feel limitless, this is what freedom is
I feel limitless, this is what freedom is
I feel limitless, this is what freedom is
I feel limitless, this is what freedom is
I feel limitless, this is what freedom is
I feel limitless, this is what freedom is
I feel limitless, this is what freedom is
https://www.instagram.com/consumables.bk
https://consumables.bandcamp.com/album/infinite-games
It all fits like some mad classically indie, furiously intelligent puzzle, too: CONSUMABLES’ debut album ‘Infinite Games’ was produced and co-written by Ben Hozie of BODEGA and engineered and mixed by Adam Sachs (Wives, Diary). It’s a concept record inspired by James P. Carse’s book ‘Finite and Infinite Games’. Finite games have boundaries, rules, and clear winners and losers. Infinite games have no winner; the goal is to simply continue the play. “Relationships are a key example of infinite games. So much unnecessary suffering happens when a person plays a finite game in an infinite game scenario (or vice versa),” explains Kyle.
The ‘Infinite Games’ LP starts off with a reflection of Kyle’s six month incarceration (marijuana conviction) in ‘Keys to the Cell’ before segueing into the suicidal ideation of ‘Dry Rot.’ The psych-skate punk prog diptych of ‘Messages / Lost in Translation’ laments the fundamentals of communication breaking down, and ‘Ten Toes Down’ is a tender ballad devoted to keeping the play of a romantic relationship alive. Standout cut ‘Emotional Speedball’ meanwhile is a synth pop anthem on the highs and lows of lust.
The earworming angst of the album culminates with an epiphany in the title track ‘Infinite Games’. (“What was once known, now is felt”). The band takes flight with a euphoric singalong jam (“I feel limitless/ this is what freedom is”) that evokes the peak of a psychedelic experience. This musical open-heartedness expresses the limitlessness felt when a relationship is played with an infinite mindset.
Something dramatic this way comes…
Seeing red, playing dead, stale beer I breathe it in
Clout Chasing, I suggest you look within
Snakeskin, lying in, you have to make your point again
Lines are straightening, this is an awakening
Your attitude’s disabling, Maybe I’m mistaken in
Thinking it’d resolve itself
Shrinking of the commonwealth
Clinking of the empty shelves
Once was known now is felt
What kind of creature am I? I’ve got to figure it out
What kind of creature am I? I’ve got to figure it out
Getting caught again, between the start and the end
I see its size, I see its shape, I see… I see its color
A distant friend looking back at the bend
A warm embrace, a lover’s face uncovered
A known regret, to repeat and dissect
I see its size, I see its shape, I see… I see its color
A secret kept in your own dialect
Ill-equipped and I can not remain tight-lipped
New words now emerge writing a new manuscript
Recommit, thinking of the big picture
escape from the circular, my doubts are all re-assured
Belt it from the mountain top
Melting of the permafrost
Breathing in a dual exhaust
truth is in the paradox
Deviating from the script
Extinguishing the dissonance
Playing a new instrument
No boundaries I’m infinite
What kind of creature am I? I’ve got to figure it out
What kind of creature am I? I’ve got to figure it out
I feel limitless, this is what freedom is
I feel limitless, this is what freedom is
I feel limitless, this is what freedom is
I feel limitless, this is what freedom is
I feel limitless, this is what freedom is
I feel limitless, this is what freedom is
I feel limitless, this is what freedom is
I feel limitless, this is what freedom is
LINER NOTES (bracketed):
[Their debut album, "Infinite Games", co-written and produced by Bodega’s Ben Hozie, cuts to the heart of contemporary alienation by grappling with the desperate quest for control in a world drowning in chaos and unpredictability. The band is made up of Kyle Crew (vocals, guitar), Miles Fox (vocals, bass, synth), Hector Guillen (drums), and Dylan Joyce (guitar). ‘Great Design’ is their brilliantly cranky brand new single, and the first track to be taken from the album which is released on March 7th on We Are Time Records (North America & South America) and Fierce Panda Records (Rest Of The World).]
[Although New York City boys, Consumables all come from very different backgrounds; Kyle is from the unlikely rock breeding ground of Arkansas and Hector grew up in Panama where he earned his rhythmic chops playing prog. Miles, whose synth pop gems are the perfect foil to Kyle’s rock tracks, is originally from Seattle, and new member Dylan (from Brooklyn’s Balaclava) is from Massachusetts.]
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://www.instagram.com/consumables.bk
https://consumables.bandcamp.com/album/infinite-games
It all fits like some mad classically indie, furiously intelligent puzzle, too: CONSUMABLES’ debut album ‘Infinite Games’ was produced and co-written by Ben Hozie of BODEGA and engineered and mixed by Adam Sachs (Wives, Diary). It’s a concept record inspired by James P. Carse’s book ‘Finite and Infinite Games’. Finite games have boundaries, rules, and clear winners and losers. Infinite games have no winner; the goal is to simply continue the play. “Relationships are a key example of infinite games. So much unnecessary suffering happens when a person plays a finite game in an infinite game scenario (or vice versa),” explains Kyle.
The ‘Infinite Games’ LP starts off with a reflection of Kyle’s six month incarceration (marijuana conviction) in ‘Keys to the Cell’ before segueing into the suicidal ideation of ‘Dry Rot.’ The psych-skate punk prog diptych of ‘Messages / Lost in Translation’ laments the fundamentals of communication breaking down, and ‘Ten Toes Down’ is a tender ballad devoted to keeping the play of a romantic relationship alive. Standout cut ‘Emotional Speedball’ meanwhile is a synth pop anthem on the highs and lows of lust.
The earworming angst of the album culminates with an epiphany in the title track ‘Infinite Games’. (“What was once known, now is felt”). The band takes flight with a euphoric singalong jam (“I feel limitless/ this is what freedom is”) that evokes the peak of a psychedelic experience. This musical open-heartedness expresses the limitlessness felt when a relationship is played with an infinite mindset.
Something dramatic this way comes…
Consumables, alt rock, alt pop, new wave, 80's music tones, hyper kinetic, power pop, East Coast funk punk, "Infinite Games", co-written by Ben Hozie of BODEGA, debut album ‘Infinite Games’ ,
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