Mental Powers CD (Badmington Bandit 2010)

This review of Mental Powers CD was sent to Mess & Noise, who totaly ignored it. Here is why:

Experimental music (a dreaded term, for sure) in Perth has been thriving in the last couple of years. Written off as crappy attempt at musicianship by music “populists”, and glorified as the best thing ever by the “elitists”, Perth’s own different music is alive and well, and Mental Powers debut CD is here to prove that statement.

The composition they released on a split 7” single with Free Choice some months ago was just a tip of an aural iceberg that these young men had in pipeline for anyone willing to listen. This time they came up with three complex, yet very engaging and listenable numbers.

The CD (which comes in a handpainted/handprinted cardboard sleeve, the artwork done by MP drummer Jamie Doohan) kicks off with “Contador” (song titles are not listed on the cover – this info was supplied by a person close to the band and it might not be correct, mind you). The drums at the beginning sound like a drumkit, together with the drummer, are falling down a steep set of stairs. In comes the saxophone that evokes images of a young beast awaking and then the whole band kicks in, changes the beat entirely, making it sound very chaotic and angular, and then finally they lock in a “groove” and stay on its course.

Once there, it’s kind of reminiscent of early material by Can and Faust, which is not to say that Mental Powers are “Kraut” revival combo. What makes them similar to those seminal German bands is the ability to come up with cool unusual beats and riffs and to repeat them with a good sense of measure.

“Ology”, the second and longest track on the CD starts with what sounds like bass-y and percussive slow and long aural outbursts and some 3 minutes later steel drums’ beat begins its mantra (handled by one of band’s guitarist Lewis Waters) and stays on until the end of the song. Smoothly the drums come in with a simple bass line and vocalist’s Deni’s chant. Nearly 11 minutes into the song the instruments drop and it’s up to steel drum to bring it to the end.

The last track “D+D” is by far the noisiest of the three, evoking (and I’m reluctant to admit here) some of the best Sonic Youth noisy moments, but not for long – things get more subtle in the second half of the song, when the sax comes in again. Before you know it 25 minutes are over, and that would be my only problem with this CD - it feels like it should go for a lot longer.

Mental Powers might not be the greatest musicians and the CD certainly is not “produced”. There are mistakes and they are not difficult to spot, but what counts is that the music is captivating, the band members know how to bring out the best in them and, what is so rare these days, it feels like nothing can be added or subtracted to their music.