The Midweekly is our column from Mike Jeffers; lead singer of Chicago punk stalwarts SCRAM, music junkie and all around righteous dude.
It isn’t a new take to say that a record is heard differently when you listen through headphones as opposed to through regular speakers. But sometimes that listening experience can be vastly improved. I took in Necroscape, the new release from tētēma, casually the first time, by way of standard stereo speakers, and found it to be as i expected, strange and not easily absorbed. But on a second spin through headphones, the nuances of the production blew me away. This collaborative between Australian-born composer/pianist Anthony Peteras, and vocalist/human sound fx machine Mike Patton defies genre at every turn. Keys, synths, and tape loops, combine with acoustic percussion (Will Guthrie) and strings (Erkki Veltheim) on ambient ballads, bass-driven grooves, odd-time rock, and heavy industrial noise. Patton’s multitude of chants, scats, and croons fly from left to right, near and far, like someone having too much fun with the panning knobs. What lyrics are decipherable are as enigmatic as the music. The whole thing ends with a great cover of Chico Buarque and Ennio Morricone. Get up close to this one, it’s all in the details.