Albums by this artist

The Iron Apple (1999)

Lifelike (1998)

Ui

The Iron Apple

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» JONATHAN COHEN | SENIOR EDITOR

Ui The Iron Apple Southern, 1999 RiYL: Liquid Liquid, Trans Am, Tortoise

The Iron Apple finds New York avant-rockers Ui toying extensively with electronics much more so than on its sensational 1998 album Lifelike. The five-song EP is certainly not as satisfying as the futuristic, funky leanings of that effort, and even goes thin on the grooves that make Ui so distinctive. It would appear that the first two tracks serve as source material for three subsequent remixes, but in the hands of talented multi-instrumentalists like Sasha Frere-Jones and Wilbo Wright, one expects variations with a little more substance.

"Ms. Lady," where feedback barks behind a free-flowing guitar line, is about as abstract as Ui has ever gotten, completely stripping the more familiar, analog synth-tinged groove of opener "Mrs. Lady Lady." The rumbling "Blue Pietro" recalls the stiff, paranoid drone of Trans Am, distending its minimal groove into molasses on "Golden Pietro." The utterly weird "Run, Pietro" reveals an unwelcome weakness for sound collage, unable to make much out of menacing noise, mandolin plunks and captured conversation from a CB radio.

At best a stop-gap before a proper full-length follow-up to Lifelike, The Iron Apple is far from ripe.

JONATHAN COHEN | Jonathan Cohen co-created Nude As The News with his Indiana University mates Troy Carpenter and Ben French. When not traversing the globe for business and pleasure, he holds down the fort as a senior editor for Billboard in New York. Stop him and he just may ask, "what for lunch?"