Controller.Controller
Issue #26
X-Amounts (Paper Bag)
By Amber Drea
Published: December 1st, 2005 | 12:57pm
When Controller.Controller exploded onto the dance-punk scene in 2003 with its six-song debut EP, History, the Toronto five-piece established an angular, disco-flavored sound that combined booty-shakin’ beats, dark melodies, and sassy yet sincere female vocals. This full-length follow-up, X-Amounts, adds ’70s rocknroll riffs and heavy metal headbanging to CC’s energy.
Opening track, “Tigers Not Daughters,” starts a big Black Sabbath intro and incorporates raw guitars and four-on-the-floor rhythms. Each song features syncopated instrumental interplay and punctuated bass lines that create tension and build up toward a climax, especially on “Poison/Safe.” While the EP found its inspiration in Gang Of Four, X-Amounts borrows from bands like the Rolling Stones, ZZ Top, and Neil Young & Crazy Horse, but retains the Gang of Four chromaticism and dissonance. The electronic element gets the spotlight on noisy, trancy interludes “Future Turtles” and “BLK GLV.”
Nirmala Basnayake’s voice has become even more soothing and precise than before, with fewer passionate outbursts and an increased bluesy, R&B style, such as her pleading “Don’t go” on “The Raw No.” Her lyrics are filled with a sense of betrayal and discontent, with lines like “Oh come on, baby, answer / Every question is a cancer” and “You had his body, now you want his soul.” Layered vocals and harmonies from the guys, such as the call-and-response chorus and “Me! Me! Me!” shouts on the freedom rock-esque “City of Daggers,” further unifies the quintet’s overall aesthetic.
With highlights including the fast-paced “Heavy As a Heart” and the album’s first single, “P/F,” X-Amounts proves Controller.Controller’s staying power.
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