Post-punk meets psychedelic post-rock on Abyssal Gigantism, the new album by Two-Man Giant Squid, the one-man project by Brooklyn based multi-instrumentalist Mitchell Vinokur. It is an eclectic collection of songs, tackling subjects like loneliness, snobbery and whether it is cool to wear Bowling Shoes (it's not, but who cares - bowling can be fun). Junkies of Despair is a prime example of Big Apple sarcasm, poking fun at well-off people who just love to talk about miserable they are.
Vinokur is an ace guitarist, who can weave basic power chords into a complex fabric that might cross-over to prog lovers, but first and foremost he has set out to break out of the "indie rock" niche. That genre has been degraded to a faded flag weaved by major label PR honchos. If anything they would have tried to talk him out of letting his grandmother explaining her Borscht recipe in the intro of the title track. Brian Speaker was enlisted to take care of the bass and Bostonian singer Josh Rathbun (Crash Cadet) stepped up to the mike as an extra vocalist. Abyssal Gigantism is an album where is it OK to be bombastic, giving a one-fingered salute to pigeonholing in the process. It's an abandoned skyscraper that will stand the test of time against all odds.
