Duster - Contemporary Movement (Album Review)

 

Duster - Contemporary Movement

(2000)

My copy: 2019 reissue by Numero Group. 

Contemporary Movement is the followup to Duster’s cult classic debut record from 1998. All the experimentation that was found on the prior album was sucked clean out of Contemporary Movement in favor of doubling down on the slow, melodic side of the band’s lo-fi style. 

“Get The Dutch” tucks listeners into a warm bed with gentle keys and buzzing bass that affix themselves in place while the track grows to include cymbals and quiet, moody vocals. Duster seems to find minor post-punk influence with darker tones and more tense, bitter guitar lines. “Operations” is a simple series of lo-fi guitar bursts that breathe like a calm breeze through a warm summer afternoon. 

Rhythm guitar often provides textural distortion such as on “Diamond,” “Cooking” or “Unrecovery.” Delayed harmonics ping forth on “Travelogue” which brings more psych influence into the mix atop building drums and washed out cymbals. “The Phantom Facing Me” is yet another track that fades all instruments out leaving just the guitar to noodle a bit before finally concluding. Contemporary Movement unfortunately feels like a semi-aimless cross between Stratosphere and the more interesting Helvetia albums that would come later. 

“Cooking” is one of the best moments with a catchy lead melody and interesting usages of time and rhythm albeit repetitive like most tracks on this album. Guided By Voices are channeled with the layered vocals of “The Breakup Suite.” Sadly, Contemporary Movement begins to overstay its welcome with “Everything You See (Is Your Own)” in which nothing new or notable occurs. Some attempt to save the final act are made with the sharp guitars of “Now It’s Coming Back” and the dark lounge ambiance of “Auto-Mobile” but these attempts are too little too late. 

Contemporary Movement is not necessarily a bad record, rather it is a mostly unimaginative lateral movement for a band that previously showed a great deal of potential. You’ll find no longform ambient experiments nor heavy head-banging explosions as are present on Stratosphere. Contemporary Movement simply sticks to its guns and repeats the same tricks for 40 minutes: sometimes it’s charming and sometimes it’s just plain boring. 

This record is still heavily available.