Dumbwaiters

Not long after the release of its debut CD "Dumbwaiters as Told by Dumbwaiters" on Screw Music Forever (the collective/imprint co-founded by Brian C. Repetto and members of Home), the original, chaotic three-guitar line-up of art/noise/pop Tampa outfit Dumbwaiters began to slowly dissolve. Between scattered tours, several band members departed, and an unfinished second record was abandoned and eventually lost. After a year-long hibernation, they suddenly re-emerged as a trio. The music, now primarily constructed from electric piano, synthesizers, and bass, was minimalist and hypnotic, yet catchy; terms like "new wave" and "krautrock" began to appear in descriptions.

They patiently worked on their next official full-length, "Titles", which was completed in 2000... and left to lie in wait until the world was ready for it. "Titles" drew attention nonetheless, receiving scattered praise and charting some radio stations, such as WNYU, as a CD-R. Gradually the guitars crept back as the band expanded to a quintet again, and their keyboards and vocal chords took a beating as the live show grew more frenetic, causing a few audience members to shed their clothes and stand uncomfortably close. While the next version of the group continued to gel, "Titles" was remixed and released in a limited run on Screw Music Forever in winter 2003. They resumed a fitful touring schedule and helped establish SMF's bi-annual "Come the Freak On!" music festival, which thus far has been held in Brooklyn and Tampa.

All the while, Dumbwaiters expanded and reworked their repertoire, casually amassing hour upon hour of demo material. The solidification of the current line-up has, ironically, thrown Dumbwaiters into a state of perpetual transformation. Their newest CD, "Musick", was released in March 2005 on Fiani, and the cacophonic tunes to be found therein are simply the versions pinned down by the group at those exact moments, trapped in manic bursts during a years' worth of recording sessions. This time out the minimalist, bouncy pop has been fused to thick blasts of pounding guitar, drawing ill-fitting comparisons to Wire, the Fall, and - to their confusion - Led Zeppelin alongside the previous Roxy-Music-meets-Faust-meets-Lee "Scratch" Perry analogies. They themselves will only describe it as "dark pop art-rock adult noises verses.... dub-dance-drone ______nothingness".