Exile on Mainstream Records has always been (and probably always will be) a label for music between several chairs from the 80s and 90s. Its roster features a certain sound without catering to a certain genre. One of the bands who exemplify that very nicely are the Antikaroshi from Potsdam, who have just today, May 31, released L‘inertie polaire, their sixth full-length, all of them on Exile on Mainstream, hence the trio is a perfect basis for the following line of argumentation!
The label run by one of the most knowledgeable persons one can ever meet, when it comes to the sound of vinyl, the industry and music in general is the home for music that can be associated with way too many different genres thus showing how generic the idea of a genre might be. The Antikaroshi (and EOM) might be placed into Post-Hardcore, Noise-Rock, Indie and even Punk. So let’s have a look at the accountability of these terms for L’inertie polaire:
I have read many people talk about them as Indie-Rock which, if used as a description for prototypical bands like Pavement, Sonic Youth or Dinosaur Jr., is not a really good one, because even though one can find many guitar parts that resonate that certain sound of the late 80s/early 90s (just listen to the guitar in ”Lost in Compassion”) but then again the drumming is too often too pushy and sweaty. Punk is another one of these terms, that are hard to define. Hard in the sense of Sex Pistols and the Ramones? Definitely not, the music is much too complicated for that. Punk in the mental idea that anything goes? Could be, as there many counteracting hooks and melodies. So is this Post-Hardcore then, if the drums are so energetic? Well, again define Post-Hardcore – it surely is neither At The Drive-In nor Thrice, therefore the “Hardcore”-element is lacking on tracks like ”Shiny White Teeth” of </i>”Sticky Hands”</i>, in the sense that the guitar lines are too angular and not decisive enough. If you think of bands like Fugazi or Nation of Ulysses when talking about Post-Hardcore then you might come a lot closer to the sound of The Antikaroshi for example on a track like ”Authority”. But then again, there are moments when the tracks open up maybe a bit too much, like at the ending of the opener ”Gravity” when the track meanders searchingly. By the way, “searching” is a good note for this record, because sometimes one can have the feeling as if listening to a trio which is searching for its song. But then again, there are tracks like ”Homohominilupus” (Latin for “Man is wolf to men”) which is so tight that it seems as if not a single sheet of paper would fit between the three guys. Noise-Rock maybe? There are surely some noisey bits to the record, however, the songs are not looking for that brittle and yet ear-scratching element that The Jesus Lizard or Shellac became famous for.
But what is this record then? Well, it has elements of all of it, it’s a great amalgam. And in that sense it is a perfect representation of that Exile on Mainstream stands for. Music between genre chairs. Music for lovers of a mix of many different genres of Rock music. Music for people who like the alternative sounds of the 80s and 90s which back then were already unusual and far away from the charts. Music for people who have exited the mainstream and went into Exile on Mainstream.
