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Mar 2, 2011The pleasure of Pyramid comes from hearing the whole thrive on elegant friction among the parts. One of its makers is gone now, but he'd have plenty of reason to be proud.
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Mar 2, 2011Pyramid of the Sun not only remedies the sporadic deficiencies of Inventions for the New Season, it does proud the legacies of Jerry Fuchs and Manuel Gottsching; it also serves as both a challenge and heuristic experience for the alarmingly proliferating post-rock contingent.
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Mar 2, 2011Although its completed form has been framed as the most explicit tribute to Fuchs on the album, it is the furthest thing from somber, rocking an insistent downstroke bass part and a series of statement-making, sunsoaked guitar parts.
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Mar 2, 2011Throughout the album, Fuchs' playing is exemplary, but not in a showy or needlessly florid manner; he simply gets to work and gets the job done, content with being just one part of a greater whole.
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Mar 2, 2011As a statement of intent from that band, Pyramid is promising in a shaky kind of way: it's clear that there's still creative magic to go around, but also that the old chemistry is going to be a tough one to reorient.
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Mar 2, 2011To compensate for the loss of [drummer Jerry Fuchs], the band gets by with help from former Outhud/!!! alchemist Justin Vandervolgen, who mixed the album to accentuate its disco grooves (see the title track), and Zombi's Steve Moore, who added synth arpeggiations to the epic arc of "Oaxaca."
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Mar 2, 2011Pyramid lacks the spark a document of this importance deserves.
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Mar 2, 2011The songs on Pyramid serve admirably as precise and severe mood pieces; they are great for rocking out to while one devotes half a mind to something else.
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Mar 2, 2011A straight play, from start to end, the album thrives on the hypnotic rhythmic drive of Krautrockers like Neu!, with bulky synth riffs that make many of the songs sound like the intro to Van Halen's version of "Dancing in the Streets," or Jan Hammer's "Theme from Miami Vice," only beefed up, elongated, and entangled in guitar delays.
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Mar 2, 2011Pyramid of the Sun certainly isn't an utterly bad album--it's cohesive enough, and it can be really engaging. At the very least, it serves as a heartfelt tribute to the band's late drummer.
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Mar 2, 2011It's uncomplicated, intense, and wearying. Still, it does immensely right by the late, great Jerry Fuchs, who defies the cliche of the 'new wave drum machine' by appearing more like a superstar than he ever has, singlehandedly launching his guys to the top of that pyramid against a blinding golden sun.
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Mar 2, 2011Despite their brevity, the songs are repetitive, wanky and almost impossible to differentiate. They make you yearn for the days before genre cross-pollination.