It’s unclear whether record collector rock is an actual genre, but it might be the best descriptor for Ithaca’s Material Objects.
The trio released In Revision, their first full length, earlier this month on Resident Recordings. Recorded to tape at the legendary Electrical Audio in Chicago with digital overdubbing at Sunwood Recording in Trumansburg, NY, the record exists at the nexus of indie rock, psychedelic music, post-punk, and post-rock.
Material Objects is Domenic Gagliano (vocals, guitars, synth), Matt Gordon (bass, piano, keyboard, found sound), and Tre Berney (drums, percussion, keyboard, hammered dulcimer). The trio is also joined by Gabriella Evergreen on cello for three tracks. Songs for the record came together through improvised collaboration and later coalesced into the dynamically complex pieces captured on the new LP. All songs are credited to the band. Material Objects produced the record with Sunwood’s Chris Ploss, who also mixed the album.
In Revision was recorded with Greg Norman at Electrical Audio, the studio famously founded by the late recording engineer Steve Albini. Albini, who also fronted the experimental bands Big Black and Shellac, passed away suddenly last year, but his studio lives on. For more than 25 years, Electrical Audio has been a haven for DIY indie rockers to affordably rent a world-class facility. In Revision may be the work of an Upstate trio, but the band’s sound shares an awful lot with the kind of music on Chicago indie labels like Drag City, Kranky, and Thrill Jockey.
These are labels that singer/guitarist Domenic Gagliano knows well. Gagliano is a serious vinyl junkie and endless sound-seeker who has gained recognition as one of YouTube’s leading contributors to the Vinyl Community (VC for short). He makes videos on his Seeking a Thread channel and also works part-time at Ithaca’s Angry Mom Records. In his videos, Gagliano is a wealth of esoteric knowledge, pontificating about everything from free jazz and freak folk to krautrock and noise records.
While Gagliano’s taste in music can run into obscure corners of the vinyl universe, In Revision is a relatively accessible indie rock record that owes a debt to the buzzy guitar indie rock of the 1990s. Propulsive drums and effects-heavy guitars abound. “Working on My Act” features a motorik beat by Berney and the kind of poetic recitation vocals from Gagliano that recall Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore or Kim Gordon. The lyrics throughout are introspective and thoughtful (see opener “Wakes & Cells”) – mature stuff from guys who have the experience that comes with middle age and many decades of thoughtful headphone listening under their belts.
This is also peak and valley guitar music that recalls other great alternative stalwarts like Archers of Loaf, Sugar, The Feelies, and Tortoise. There’s also a loud-quiet-loud thing going on here that makes me think of The Pixies. On “Dreaming Outside”, Material Objects recall one of my all-time favorite rock trios, Yo La Tengo. Gagliano and company employ a hook so catchy and guitars so warm, I’m reminded of Ira Kaplan’s jubilant performance on “Sugarcube”. The left-turn outro on “Dreaming” is chills-on-the-back-of-the-neck warm guitar goodness – highly recommended. Side two’s “Easy Out” could also function as a single here. It’s enhanced by Evergreen’s contribution on cello and Gagliano channels late-era Pavement’s Stephen Malkmus in his guitar figures and vocal delivery.
The chiming and plinking guitar sound throughout definitely owes a debt to the more mainstream, DGC-era Sonic Youth, but the addition of cello on some tracks gives more of an ambient or pastoral vibe than downtown NYC experimentalism (see the instrumental codas to many of the tracks, particularly on the set closer “Augment Center”). Material Objects would be the perfect touring partner with the Karen Schoemer-led Sky Furrows, who I have enthusiastically endorsed for a while as the Capital Region/Hudson Valley’s own version of Sonic Youth. If these two bands don’t already know each other, I’ll be glad to make the introduction.
Formed in 2019, Material Objects has released two EPs (2019’s Content vs. Carrier and 2023’s Passing Through). In Revision is the group’s first LP. Mastered for vinyl by Paul Gold at Sal Mastering, the record itself has a warm, live feel that places the guitars high in mix. The album is limited to 200 copies on black vinyl and available for purchase here.
