I’m not sure why, but whenever any artist from Portland puts out a much-hyped, slickly produced electronic record, I automatically assume it won’t be any good.
It’s not to the discredit of Portland’s artistic community. Indie rock? Sure. Neofolk? Yes. Electronic? Not so much.
Why do I feel this way? I have no idea. After all, we have Bryan Zentz, who is incredible. We have Paul Dickow, better known as Strategy. We have Grouper, who sort of counts. We are also at the forefront of the oft-hated dubstep scene: We have SPL The Bassist and Triage. SPL tours all over the place: From Russia to New Zealand, he’s been there.
Is Triage next? We’ll take a look inside, as the band just released Rage, its first full-length album.
It should be said that, yes, Triage does dubstep differently than most artists in the game today. Perhaps it’s that the band’s drum ’n’ bass upbringing gives Triage a sense of dynamics that most people can’t match. While most producers treat a dubstep track as one idea copied and pasted six times, Triage treats the entire process like a journey: Each track must be listened to fully and analyzed individually.
And with a title like Rage, you would expect such a cerebral style—as much IDM as it is heavy, body-spasming bass music. With this kind of EDM cross-pollination, it’s a wonder the record is so focused.
The record begins with “Radium,” a particularly ferocious Triage cut. While the synth stabs and gut-churning mangled bass lines flow freely, it seems more of a run-of-the-mill dubstep track than Triage usually serves up. Strangely, track two, “Brawl,” sounds like it should have switched places with “Radium” because, by comparison, it is much tamer yet still retains Triage’s trademark journey-like qualities.
The song that simultaneously makes and breaks the entire record is “Party Foul,” Triage’s collaboration with local dubstep icon SPL. “Party Foul” is good. The only problem is that it’s too good. In fact, it’s so good that the rest of the record almost seems amateur by comparison.
As you blissfully nod your head to this immaculate dubstep track, you’ll wonder why “Party Foul” utterly annihilates “Radium” and “Brawl.” Then the answer dawns on you: This is the collaboration between Triage and SPL. Right around the time you realize this, you realize that the focus is now off the primary artist, and you just kind of feel like listening to SPL. And if you’ve never checked out SPL, now you want to. This is a problem.
The problems continue on the next track, “Crossout,” which is also wonderful. But again, this track is a collaboration with The Bassist. Because the track is very good, it has the same effect as “Party Foul,” and, once again, you’ll want to just go listen to The Bassist.
Fortunately for Triage, those subversions and self-inflicted wounds start and end with tracks three and four. Unfortunately, however, the structuring problems don’t end with those tracks.
Most dubstep full-lengths seem to follow a paint-by-numbers scheme these days, and it’s disappointing that Triage follows the same blueprint: Throw in a Moomba or mid-tempo track to change things up and, when they least expect it, toss in an electro house joint for good measure.
The problem is that literally every dubstep full-length includes both of these. In fact, the formula for the electro track is so specific that it includes an obligatory dubstep breakdown inserted right at the second drop. Triage does both of these things exactly, on “Aneurysm” (featuring the criminally underutilized Antiserum) for mid-tempo and “Demigod” as the token electro house song.
When nearly half of the record features guest spots, it’s best to trim the fat a bit. In hip-hop, guest spots are handed out like candy because the layperson that grabs the hip-hop album is familiar with the artist’s name on the cover. Guest spots are no problem, then, because there are unique voices involved that the listener can separate.
The casual hip-hop listener buying a Kanye West album listens to it with the Kanye binary up front. Take, for example, the song “All of the Lights.” A casual Kanye fan that may not be familiar with Rihanna or Kid Cudi only has to think, “Kanye…not Kanye…Kanye…definitely not Kanye…”
On this and any other electronic record, the casual listener doesn’t have that luxury, and even seasoned veterans like me have a hard time distinguishing where Triage ends and SPL begins. Or Triage and Antiserum. Or Triage and any other guest on the record.
Despite the near-fatal structuring and planning errors aside, the songs are pretty good. Triage retains the style that is often imitated and seldom duplicated. Triage’s patented “delayed drop” technique is utilized several times across Rage, and it’s such a simple but unexpected trick that the audience falls for it every time. “Nebula” is a great track to wind the record down with, and the beat-heavy “Corrupted” is a great finisher, bringing strong drum ’n’ bass grooves together with the dubstep ethos.
If anything, Rage serves as a great display of potential. And although it’s very unfortunate that the guest stars steal the show on almost every track, it’s not as if Triage gives them free reign in the studio. The important thing to remember is that without the input of Triage, the tracks wouldn’t sound the same, though the extra personnel detract from the experience a bit.
Perhaps it’s best to save the collaborations for singles as so many other electronic artists do and politely decline your friends’ requests to “hop on a track.” Sometimes it’s just not a good look for you.