Music: The Biv "Creatures of the Deep" CD

The freedom from genre-restrictions on this little piece of Nashville house-party faire from 2009 is refreshing. It wouldn't be long before like a garage-rock-only rule went into effect, but if you saw The Biv, like I did, in a sweaty basement or Germantown warehouse loft, you fucking appreciated it.

I mean there are traces of Krautrock grooviness, post-rock drama, and more than a little Deerhoof angularity, but strictly speaking this is Pop-only, instrumental dance music that defies lazy genre categorization.

Nothing here isn't at least basically catchy. Drummer Dan Burns and keyboardist Mitch Jones went on to form/greatly expand two of Nashville's best pure-pop bands, Action! and Fly Golden Eagle respectively.

From what I remember the big hit is "Adventurebot", but that's a little too sticky-sweet for my taste. "Man Overboard (Where'd That Guy Go?)" is a weirdo stuttering minimal-arp piece that should be more than just an interlude. "Reefy the Clownfish" (yes, they mostly have aquatic-themed titles...) is all goofball-early FLips, only well-played. "Different Kinds of Tentacles" has a loping puppet-funk vibe, interupted by Futurama-chimes and a fake horn section. This stuff is simultaneously cartoonish and classical-esque, which basically equals charismatic.

There's a bass player too, but it's mostly MJ's synth leads, organ and piano that supply the broad sound-pallette with DB's skipping, complex drum patterns propping it all up.

Groovy cut out art by Mitch; too bad it's a CD I've ripped into my computer and shelved, perhaps never to look at again, but that's CDs for ya.