The doctor and Philip
Are Making Progress on Their Whole Spider Thing
( Marvelous Alvin Records ) 2005

I suppose you're wondering why I've called you here today.. .

Opening with the wordless file "ave' + albert" that makes Friends of Dean Martinez more likely friends & neighbors of Dean Wareham, The doctor and Philip embark on a 42-minute wax-museum tour that bobs and weaves through many striking moments that will likely fail you (as they did myself) for passable words, all while leaving you yearning for more [moments] just like them.

There are a many notable "what the fuck (positive)" moments buried on Are Making Progress on Their Whole Spider Thing, but as to not "shoo" you away into the doctor Phil-less forest forever - I'll make light of one: following an artistically ambient composition like "negative ribs", a ballad shrouded in what could be the sharpening of machetes or WWI-era storm doors* (the opening minute) and guitars saturated in eyeless lethargy - you are presented "water", a limited foundation of alt-Americana (see also: "i suppose your wondering why I've called you here today"). "water" - with her in-time guitars and patterned percussion, doesn't exactly follow the {stylistically} improper balance of instrumentation a fair portion of Are Making Progress on Their Whole Spider Thing faithfully presents.

The poetry, recited by one Zachary Sulat (similar to French for "hi"), is of a pleasurable zone I have only heard one other superior band possess - The Brother Egg. In detail, on "i suppose your wondering why i've called you here today", Sulat speaks of "first I'm gonna kill you - gonna kill you with my kindness / then I'm gonna break you and put you back together".. . sounds lovely, right? Well then he directly adds "and where your heart was - there's gonna be a watchspring. Then I'm gonna wind it, and love you by the hour". It continues (note: suspense sells albums), transfigured around an acoustic guitar while presenting another layer of vocals that cannot be intercepted no matter the sonic, futuristic boombastic headgear you apply to your hearing units - layer two is set at a maximum 7% opacity and meant to leave you guessing.. . it's the playfully encrypted nature of this doctor and Philip diskette.

What strikes my lobe as fancy, is this album didn't "happen" by immaculate accident - you can't get a complete record this multi-faceted and future-psych by pushing some auto-pattern preset on Pro-Tools™. These guys have likely kept day & night jobs, then - whilst dragging from the mind-suck of putting up with the east coast wages and strife "the man" puts on us all - found the drive to perfect the recordings we are presented with on ..Their Whole Spider Thing.

If you were searching for something to make you "popular" on that 2am radio show {that no one even listens to} at your college station, and that handmade package with the trippy art looked convincing - don't do it. However, if you were looking to make yourself happy in the stagnant places where seratonin is lacking - dedicate an entire show to Are Making Progress on Their Whole Spider Thing. Not a darkhorse for one of the best albums of the year, more of the Clydesdale-framed Emu that fooled every judge on the panel and galloped off with the blue ribbon and a wreath laced in gold.

* from the recording notes of instruments played on their latest album: metal chair, BLUE bluebird, cellular phone, hookers oxygen tank, frying pan, metal chair rungs.

+ k :: (darkness overwhelms the month of October, 2005)