Ilium

Amongst the instrumental post- post-rock hordes (most of whom seem to congregate in Chicago for some reason), Ilium stands head and shoulders above the noodly pack of jammers. As evidenced by their second EP-length release, Paint By Number, what everyone else lacks and Ilium seems to hold most dear is structure. Sure, all the bass line melodies and odd time signatures one associates with such music are here, but Ilium isn’t interested in just getting weird. Rather, through always interesting recording tricks and a penchant for odd turns of phrase, Paint By Number keeps you on your toes. There are some more straight-forward pieces of melodic instrumentalism, like track three (the tracks are all identified by colour — hell on the colour blind), but Ilium really takes off when the band takes it outside, like on the purple final track. If only they’d record more than 30 minutes of music at a time.