Mad Scene

Mad Scene

Blip

Siltbreeze

It’s staggering to think that this is the first album from Mad Scene since Merge released Chinese Honey way back in 1995. But that’s a fact. Not that the band has been inactive on the live front—far from it. When you have a group as diverse as Hamish Kilgour (The Clean), Lisa Siegel (Vegetarian), Steve Thornton (Go-To Guy), Georgia Hubley (Yo La Tengo), Gary Olsen (Straight Shooter), Josh Feldman (Professional Athlete), Cassie Tunick, Danny Tunick (Same Last Names!) and Brian Turner (WFMU Music Director), things can get sidelined when it comes to the studio. But eventually things fell into place and for their fourth long-player, the band enlisted Sonic Boom to produce and mix, then thrust the finished product into the waiting hands of the Siltbreeze label. Blip is a masterful mélange of sounds, mixing a range of influences such as nascent Flying Nun chug, Television Personalities DIY psych, shambling Pastels-like rockers and Sarah label indie-pop nuggets. The palette of aural perfection here offers something for everyone. And yeah, it may have taken 17 years to get here, but you can’t say it isn’t worth the wait.