Troubleman Unlimited
2003
At Crystal Palace
About This Album
Erase Errata's second album, At Crystal Palace, continues the band's ongoing flirtations with order and chaos, ping-ponging between the two with such ease that it's clear that even their most disjointed moments are under their control. Songs such as "Driving Test" and "Go to Sleep" are as angular and tense as ever -- the way Jenny Hoyston snarls "Go to sleep!" on the latter ensures a string of nights spent with eyes wide open -- but every now and then the band lets down its avant-garde and allows some melodic, and even poppy, moments to exist within its formidably sharp music. "Ca. Viewing" is one of Erase Errata's most accessible songs, at once prickly and playful. Meanwhile, "Let's Be Active c/o Club Hott" and "Surprize It's Easter" are both slightly more melodic than their earlier work; Hoyston's vocals come closer to honest-to-goodness singing than they have before, even though both songs feature strange breakdowns where most bands would put choruses. Hoyston's paranoid, soulful wailing on "Matter No Medley" marks a further expansion of the band's sound; she remains one of the most distinctive voices in underground rock, androgynous and fiercely powerful without resorting to histrionics, particularly on "Owls" and "Retreat! The Most Familiar.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9 and 10)

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