Experimental Dental School

2 1/2 Creatures

May 1, 2006

www.experimentaldental.com

Experimental Dental School’s second full-length release, 21/2 Creatures, is a dissonant, distorted—and often wholly danceable—carnivalesque romp through a world of noise and fun. One of Creatures most compelling and addictive tracks is “A Dirty Birdie Told Me,” a cacophony of shrill organ, frantic cymbals, and Jesse Hall’s gravelly vocals, all held together with a wonderfully toe-tappable bass line. Much of the appeal of Creatures lies in the maniacal organ of Shoko Horikawa, the dramatic style of which could just as easily render it the brooding soundtrack to a gothic silent film as it could to scoring a flashback of that time you got chased by mad clowns through Circus Circus while chewing on an adrenaline gland.

When Experimental Dental School’s multiplicity of sound and texture threatens with discord and chaos throughout Creatures, what emerges is a fun, complex, and carefully crafted album that should be filed behind “Crazy Enough to Work.” This is brainy, artsy indie-punk for the ADD generation. —Jenny Miyasaki

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