A CRUDE MECHANICAL-DISCOURSE.

dereksmusicblog ♦ January 26, 2024 ♦ 1 Comment

A Crude Mechanical-Discourse.

Format: LP and Digital.

Once in a while, a debut album comes along that features groundbreaking, genre-melting music that stands head and shoulders above other albums that have just been released. That was the case with A Crude Mechanical’s much-anticipated debut album, ‘Discourse.’ It was based on a speech made by American theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer,

‘Discourse’ is an album of instrumentals that stops you in your tracks and forces you to listen. It’s an album that demands your full attention, and takes the listener on a magical musical journey across disparate genres as the music paints pictures in the mind’s eye. Some of the instrumentals on ‘Discourse’ are cinematic, others are experimental soundscapes and many combine a variety of genes. All of the tracks are ambitious and innovative. Quite simply, Discourse is a stunning debut album from A Crude Mechanical, the new project from Shane Warbrooke, a familiar face in Auckland’s music scene.

For the past two deceases Warbrooke member of Auckland’s undergoing  Tāmaki Makaurau musical scene, and was a member of The Bemsha Swing, 1000 and Climate Change. That was in his past. A Crude Mechanical is a new chapter in his musical journey.

It began in 2023 when Warbrooke wrote and recorded A Crude Mechanical’s debut album ‘Discourse.’ He then mixed and mastered the eight tracks on the album. This included the first single from Warbrooke’s latest project.

On Friday ‘6th’ of October 2023, A Crude Mechanical released their debut single. ‘A Decoration Of Moments’ was a video-only release that’s dark, dramatic, moody and broody. `Disparate music genres were combined by A Crude Mechanical on a synch friendly cinematic track that later, heads in the direction of post rock, snd was a tantalising taste of an album of groundbreaking music genre-melting music.

The followup single was ‘And We Bleed Metrics.’  It’s best described as cinematic, mesmeric and dramatic as the arrangement builds and reveals its secrets and subtleties. Soon, it would be time for the main event, the release of ‘Discourse.’

It’s an instrumental project. Warbrooke explains: “there’s no point in having lyrics anymore. Far-right fascists play Rage Against The Machine at their rallies. People will spend twenty minutes explaining how Green Day are actually pro-American aggression after playing songs off American Idiot.” Lyrics can be hijacked.”

Warbrooke didn’t want this happening to his music, and went away and wrote and recorded an album that featured eight instrumentals. They’ve been inspired by a variety of artists and musical genres.

Prior to the release of  ‘Discourse,’ Warbrooke said of his musical style: “To me it feels fairly trip hop, with more trip and more hop, some shoegaze, and I’ve started listening to the unpopular Sonic Youth albums instead of the popular ones.” These are just some of Warbrooke’s musical influences.

Many other of Warbrooke’s influences shine through on ‘Discourse.’ His guitar playing has been inspired by Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth and Dave Knudsen of Minus The Bear. When it comes to composition Warbrooke definitely been influenced by modern classical composers including Phillip Glass, Hania Rani and Eydis Evenson. Other influences that shine through are Mogwai, Radiohead, Mars Volta and Daughters. That’s not all.

Listen carefully to the guitar playing, and the cinematic sound of some tracks is similar to some of Ry Cooder’s soundtracks. Especially Paris, Texas. Sometimes, there’s similarities to the Beta Band. There’s also similarities to various Nordic Wave groups and artists and bands. This includes Luman Drones, Skydive Trio, Skadedyr and even elements of Erland Dahlen’s music. The result is a genre-melting album from A Crude Mechanical

Everything from art rock and post rock to experimental and electronic music as well as elements of alt-rock, avant-garde, indie rock, modern classical, shoegaze, trip hop, and even ambient, modern library music and  Nordic Wave. Add to the mix fat crispy, crunchy beats, pulsating synths. They feature on ‘Another Destroyer Of Words’ along with haunting strings, a moody piano and some stunning guitar playing from Warbrooke. He’s inspired through this seven minute epic that eventually heads in the direction of post rock. 

Throughout ‘Discourse’ is inspired as he seamlessly fuses genres and influences. There’s drama and a cinematic sound from the opening bars of ‘And Now The Artifice Is The Art.’ Later, waves of rocky guitars combine with the crispy beats and myriad of exotic sounds. Rocky, anthem and truly memorable it’s another highlight of the album. 

‘Discourse’ is a stunning debut album from A Crude Mechanical. It’s an album to sit down and immerse yourself, and listen as Warbrooke seamlessly combines disparate musical genres and influences on eight tracks. He’s like a sonic sorcerer working his magic on an album of groundbreaking and genre-melting music which he wrote, performed, produced and mastered. Warbrooke is multitalented and his new musical vehicle A Crude Mechanical has a bright future ahead. ‘Discourse’ is one of the best debut albums I’ve heard recently and deserves to be heard by a much wider audience. It’s a no brainer to add ‘Discourse’ to your collection and discover the magical music of Auckland’s very own A Crude Mechanical. 

https://acrudemechanical.bandcamp.com/album/discourse

A Crude Mechanical-Discourse.