by That One Guy

Although this review will no doubt prompt a “What I think of Wanz Dover” Comments Section free-for-all, The Frenz’ new-ish Psychomagik EP offers a strong reminder that one of THE SCENE’s most polarizing figures has been involved and making interesting music since before many of his detractors were, as my grandma would put it, knee high to a grasshopper. Predating the full-fledged band lineup currently appearing as The Frenz live, this largely instrumental EP is the product of Dover’s original conception of The Frenz as a nom de release for over a decade’s worth of mainly solo “studio experiments,” reflecting a wide cross-section of the musical styles he has dabbled in over the years.

Opener, “The Truthkillers,” is the biggest sore thumb of the bunch, getting things off to a pretty non-indicative start with a noisy crash of tribal drumming, loud guitars, (possibly) a didgeridoo, and some highly processed vocals that I can only describe as Danzig-esque (circa the live version of “Mother”). With that bit of “TV On The Radio on a bad day” business out of the way, however, Psychomagik takes a decidedly dreamier and, to my ear, more appealing trajectory that reflects Dover’s long espoused twin loves: psychedelic guitar music (especially of the shoegaze variety) and the hyphen filled world of IDM (Intelligent Dance Music, obviously). The title track and “Das Schloss Des Lebens” are definitely the most “dancey” selections on offer here, with the former being a downright club friendly track vaguely reminiscent of a quality UNKLE remix of some early 00s guitar band, and the latter being the nicest slice of neo-Balearic prog disco that I’ve heard recently. “The Sea Is Me (Snowblind Mix)” is the serious IDM ambient track, and it would have been a perfect accompaniment to a cold bottle of water and a backrub in a comedown room somewhere ten years ago. Sadly, thrust outside of that context and in to 2008, it probably just sounds boring. The remaining two tracks, “Kraterz” and album closer, “Fon The Seducer,” are straight shoegaze / space rock / whatever-we-are-retroactively-calling-it-this-month tunes of the more noisy and dreamy variety, serving as a good reminder that Dover has been doing this kind of thing, and doing it well, since the mid-90s.

In the end, Psychomagik definitely has the overall feel of the grab bag, cleaning out the closet exercise that it is, but you’ll probably find at least a couple of tracks you enjoy on it. Considering this is the first of six Frenz EPs that are purportedly being released during the first six months of 2008 (the rest in the next two months, I guess), by late June you’ll be able to cobble together your own twelve-track Best Of The Frenz album. You could even throw their new remix of Radiohead’s “Nude” (think Burial with more jazz piano) on as a bonus track. I smell the perfect aging Dallas/Denton scenester Fathers Day gift!

I doubt it. Last I saw, he was using Ableton on a PC. To great effect from the material I've heard. Some interesting songs on this EP, and I'm looking forward to hearing the other EPs.

wanz uses garage band samples in his tracks.

nice work by wanz. i admire his willingness to give despite over a decade of criticism. the music is a move forward in his work. you can hear the african influence mixed with the punk aspect and the "space rock" influence of harmonic anti-density ...very nice.

nice work by wanz. i admire his willingness to give despite over a decade of criticism. the music is a move forward in his work. you can hear the african influence mixed with the punk aspect and the "space rock" influence of harmonic anti-density ...very nice.

exactly...

gee...maybe the guy just enjoys making music. Fuck off if you don't like it. "oooh...someone's doing something that I don't like! Better spout off ananymously in order to make my generation look like a bunch of trashtalking shitheads!"

thank god its not my home town...

in my hometown
in MY hometown...

i thought springsteen wuz a couple of weeks ago
in my hometown

ooo mango

rinse lather repeat

It's free because I blew all of my money to release it on throwing a festival for my hometown and to be quite honest after being shit on by people like Pete Freedman and the many anonymous assholes on this blog it has gotten pretty hard to even want to play the music I love outside of my house.

In other words............you won. I kind of surrender. Please leave me alone.

no, please just turn it down...or off.

crank it!

It's middling, but it becomes maddening because it has no sustained focus. Mwanza in a nutshell.

Its free because no one will buy it

Its not really music.

It's not really Dance music.

fuck dance music

Why do you say an ambient IDM song is boring because it is 2008? I personally think good music is good music whether it is 70 years old or a few months old. It seems like with that sentence your saying this review is only going be read by hipster party boys and girls who have to have dance music to be happy.

3:56: *golf clap*

...who needs anonymity?

With frenz like these . . .

You can also get it by signing up for the Mesquite Rock City boards.

(insert half baked opinion here)

exclusively in denton

you can download it for free at their myspace page.

is this available for purchase in denton?

to 11:50am

hmmmmm...........I certainly did not expect a random act of childish behaviour in the form of more Wanz hate. Not on this blog. What has the world come to.

(sarcasm)

I enjoyed The Frenz' set on the final Melodica night. The cover of "Four Women" stopped me in my tracks, so I'll give these guys a listen whenever. Nice review.

#1: what does this mean, exactly?

#5: what is the direction of this blog, and how is this review indicative of it?

I'm guessing you either won't respond or that you will just say something like "ha ha, i was just trying to piss you off brah, and it worked."

#1. love how you try to redeem yourself in the last sentence, wsjr.
#2. did'nt expect this, wanz?? we are SO sure..
#3. yeah, we DO NOT require a quasi-scheduling of forthcoming releases, much less ANYTHING else.
#4. by WE, i mean of course, the haters.
#5. how indicative of the direction of this BLOG. buh-bye.

did not expect this.Thanx for the review. The other 4 ep's are on the way. I had to pushed things back due to the financial strain of Melodica. They will all be out by september. The 6th ep has turned into The first Blixaboy album and will be out next month.
Cheers!!!

what, no star rating?

interesting.. i'd like to check it out