All Ages Early Warnings (Music) Recommended The List (Music) Soundboard
Explosions in the Sky, Zammuto

When: Tue., June 26, 8 p.m. 2012
Price: $35

On his first solo album since he and Paul de Jong disbanded the Books, Nick Zammuto is still assembling chopped-up fragments of music into meticulous collages. But on the recent Zammuto (Temporary Residence), he leaves behind the homespun, almost rustic feel of his previous band, turning the tone toward exuberant, poppy, and plastic. He often treats his voice with piles of effects and a vocoder—on the opener, "Yay," he transforms it into skittering, nonverbal sounds—and even when he doesn't process his singing, he uses words like he's playing a vocabulary game. (Sample song titles: "Too Late to Topologize," "Idiom Wind.") Zammuto played almost everything on the album, using guitars, strings, samples, and acoustic and electronic beats to construct elaborate puzzles; various rhythmic cycles overlap and speed past one another with exhilarating precision. Much like the Books, Zammuto's solo material can sound a bit too clever and satisfied with itself, but that doesn't have to get in the way of the buzz. —Peter Margasak Explosions in the Sky headline.