Free Moral Agents

Control This

BY Daniel SylvesterPublished Nov 22, 2010

Isaiah "Ikey" Owens is best known as the keyboardist (and founding member) of El Paso post-punk wackos the Mars Volta, which seems a bit insolent when you take a look at his entire body of work. Control This, the second LP from jazzy/spazzy trip-hop four-piece Free Moral Agents, shows Owens reaching far into the depths of heavily-stylized art, as vocalist Mendee Ichikawa drops amorphous, pocket-sized melodies over a very Ikey-like psychedelic backdrop. Like the Mars Volta, Free Moral Agents' sound comes off exceedingly rubbery, complex and dense, but the floating, electro-tinged lullabies of "Gem From a Broken Rock," paired with the funky spoken-word breakdowns of "Girls With Glasses Only Please," and the hip-hop meets prog-rock cover of Sonic Youth's "Little Trouble Girl" show just how hard Owens and Free Moral Agents work at sounding worldly, otherworldly and worthy.
(Chocolate Industries)

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