Skoal Kodiak's proud embrace of a kind of twisted Midwestern skronk and flail -- not surprising given some of the band backgrounds at work -- gets another airing on
Kryptonym Bodliak. It's a demonstration that the 21st century era of noise releases, however defined, is a happily broad church. There's certainly a feeling of aggro, angular pop from the get-go thanks to "Teapot," which feels like a lost, guitarless
Brainiac track more than anything else, the distorted bubbling vocal of Marcus Lunkenheimer not quite Tim Taylor's shriek but a kissing cousin at the least. The basic combination of drumming freakery (structured but always feeling pretty frenetic), vocal rampages, and keyboard squelch weirdness as hooky craziness continues throughout, with songs like "The Borrower" and "Asstral Assassin" feeling like their own form of Top 40 from a more pissed-off world. But song for song there's an often arresting variety that keeps things engaging. The start of "Pinomage," with its cymbal hits creating an uneasy collage before shifting into a demi-funk break, makes sense in context while still feeling like a distinct surprise. Meanwhile, the far cleaner keyboard/organ start of "Sciswell" is less fractured rampage than a bit of serene stateliness, the slow drive of the drumming keeping things moving even as the vocals are turned into a chopped-up mess. And if 2011 was a bit of a year for saxophones trending back more openly into pop and rock on numerous fronts, "Tomah Triangle"'s swinging example shows that
Skoal Kodiak had their own example to display. ~ Ned Raggett