Im totally biased. For some reason when I hear an album that makes me immediately consider turning down the volume I have to feel like its holding a giant middle finger right in the nose of popular culture. Such is the feeling with TPW's Napkin III. This random glob of sound sound sounds like rock and roll to me. Its nostalgic in the way it brings me back to only a few short years ago when all i wanted to do with my music was to have fun and offend people. I've said this before about scribbler, but Thickly painted walls is the kind of thing that will make all the wrong people run to cover their ears, while leaving all the right people left listening closely for what comes next. And lo-fi will always have a special place in my heart. Not to say the production doesn't pay keen attention to detail. Its a production that you wouldn't hardly notice as it is refreshingly ingenuitive (listen to the track "Video"). Odd loops, broken samples, crazy stereo traveling, jumping from disjuncted idea to idea. Canadian musicians like Thickly Painted's Stephen Fredrick Walz have a knack for re-inventing instruments whose traditional roles have been etched into the very nature of their usage by the sheer force of time. I guess another way to explain it would be "perfectly-out-of-tune". Just wait until the intro of "Sweater superficial and Unnofficial" makes you shit your pants. although "sweater" is also the first track that leaves a little more to be desired in terms of melody. I love the completely random pirate radio breaks that are sprinkled throughout with some traditional noise tracks ("Nosie") mixed in.
I first heard of Thickly painted walls through the track Metal as well as their many distinctively confusing videos and sounds. I didn't really know how to feel about them at the time. Which is probably why I enjoy this album so much right now, I had no idea that this band, which I believed to be primarily a noise band, was capable of such charmingly organic tunes as "pulling out my hair". I guess the last thing I would ask about this album is "does it have replayability?" to which the short answer is yes. The long answer is that this album can make you feel any range of dissastifaction or enjoyment. You don't have to be deep to enjoy it, but I feel this album has more appeal to people who particularly love sounds in general as opposed to merely music. 7.3
reviewed by Mohamed El-Darwish RADIATOR COLLECTIVE 2012
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