In terms of bands whose names sound like the music they play, it’s hard to beat Black Moth Super Rainbow. Little is known about this blissed-out electronic Pittsburgh crew (intentionally so) beyond their output, but the songs on Cobra Juicy are anything but unexpected. This is their fifth release, but the songs here could just have easily fit in on 2009′s The Autumn Kaleidoscope Got Changed or 2003′s Falling Through A Field.
The album begins forcefully, with the gritty “Windshield Smasher.” Here the smoothed out vocals of Tobacco (no, I’m not making that name up) get twisted around blasts of synth and a crunchy beat, putting a tense spin on the typical Black Moth Super
But if those songs have a manic feel to them, they’re undercut by the aptly named “Psychic Love Damage,” which drags the listener through some glittery synth lines on the way to pretty much nowhere. There’s a feeling of loss, but it’s never contextualized in a way that gives it meaning. And the album never really picks up after that, most of the songs passing in a haze of distorted vocals and noodley guitars. An attempt to restore some sort of drama comes with closer “Spraypaint,” but despite its more aggressive melodies, it too peters out about two thirds of the way through. Tobacco sings, “I couldn’t need you more,’ but the urgency in that phrase turns lackadaisical as the words are repeated endlessly and eventually fade to nothing.
It’s hard to tell if the members of Black Moth Super Rainbow are really as disinterested as they sound on Cobra Juicy, but the overall effect of the album is enervating. There are moments in the first few tracks where it seems like they may just break through the noise and create something new, but they never quite get there, remaining satisfied instead with throwing some more effects over the mix and calling it good.
Black Moth Super Rainbow has always pretty much made music to get high too, and if that’s what you’re looking for, Cobra Juicy satisfies. But for the sober listener, the lack of direction becomes apparent too often and too early to be ignored. Some of Black Moth Super Rainbow’s earlier records created excitement out of their madness by presenting us with something new, but by 2012 it seems like they’ve milked that formular for just about everything it’s worth.
1.5 / 5 bars
