Are you ready for Creatures of Teeth, the debut from Highland Park’s Random Patterns? This Los Angeles quintet, part of the Heard of Elephants art/music cooperative, fashions a mind-melting ferment of art-damaged, psychedelic jazz pop. Think of a more organic Animal Collective mixed with Miles Davis-inspired jazz funk and sprinkled with indie pop stylings.
“Right in My Left Ear” begins as a tunefully-toned pop contraption but segues into an acid-soaked explosion with off-centered lyrics, beats, horns and flared keys. Effects laden “Oh No, I’m Bold Again” is a kaleidoscopic cut with an off-kilter, ambient charm. Funk-filled “Dum dee” starts with a booty-shaking banter imported from some imaginary 1970s soundtrack but morphs into something distinctive, akin to Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci. The album’s most pell-mell piece is epic closer, “Drowning in Midgets,” an art-pop extravaganza that combines psych-pop, Krautrock, bird noises, and miminalism.
Throughout, vocalist Chris Frias brews up eccentric verses that defy easy categorization.
Music: CD Reviews
Random Patterns: Creatures of Teeth
(Heard of Elephants)
By Doug Simpson

Grade: B
Creatures of Teeth is currently available.
Article posted on 7/20/2009
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