August 4-10, 2005

music

GANG OF THREE: "This may not be a time to write songs always about the things we used to write songs about. The political culture of the nation is the water in which all bands swim," says Jeremy Braddock of Sympathizers (right). Photo By: rayna kalas

Dance Against the Machine

Sympathizers man the Controls and get political.

by A.D. Amorosi

When Sympathizers first started, they sought to get into dance music in what they thought would be a different fashion. "A hopefully authentic way," as singer-guitarist "Michigan J" Jeremy Braddock calls his trio's use of old 808 and 909 beats along with big, shiny guitar sounds.

Sounds simple.

This was a band that, despite not having a drummer and never, ever getting one, once covered two-thirds of The Jesus & Mary Chain's Psychocandy at a gig.

But, by being more loquacious, even political, in their rhetoric, than most acts within the rhythm nation, the Philadelphia-based Sympathizers gained weight in more places than just their feet. They shook more than just their hips.

The trio's self-released debut CD, Dread at the Control — referring both to Bush at the helm and dub toaster/DJ Mikey Dread — is thick with smartly smarmy lyrics geared toward suitcase bombs and green night vision enterprises.

"It might be worth saying that our debt to Gang of Four is in how we think about language, not about drums and guitars," says Braddock, pointing to the abstraction of their politics and the skewering of their beats, unlike other Caucasian funk boys making the rounds.

Balls-in rock, they call it, knicking bits from Bob Xgau's review books, Big Audio Dynamite — the second guitar solo in Sympathizers' "American Tourister" is right outta "Sightsee MC" — and The Four Tops. Damien Keane's bass line on "Kosmo Vinyl" is a deformed version of James Jamerson's rhythm from "Reach Out I'll Be There."

It's only appropriate that Sympathizers — Braddock, bassist Keane and multi-instrumentalist Tim Albro — played their first show on April 13, 2003, the birthday of Al Green and Sam Beckett. "You don't always have to be subtle. When we do four on the floor, we slow it down a bit, and are thinking more about Stax or about Chicago house."

The repetition and spaciousness of "Highway Cleaner" and "Appearance Is Essence" ring as rudely, openly and rakishly as any Lee Perry dub classic. Between the blipping electronics and the airy, prairie vibe, is a crisply unique take on the dark sound-system aesthetic, especially noteworthy since most people outside of Jamaica mangle dub badly.

"Dub is not necessarily what we're always trying to do — but it's cool you hear that, because it asks us to think about our music differently," says Braddock. "What's interesting is that when we started writing and playing, we were listening a lot to Combat Rock, which we contend is where The Clash learned to handle their debt to dub most effectively and powerfully."

"Dance music has been with us since the dawn of time. There's no trigger on Damien's bass. If there was, he wouldn't pull it," says Braddock when prodded.

Like The Clash, or Elvis Costello on Armed Forces, Sympathizers seek to internalize authority while taking on everything from bioterrorism ("American Tourister") to corporate media ("Our Meteorologist, Tom Verlaine").

"This is a sign of what it means to play in a band in 2005," says Braddock, pointing out his fear of Clear Channel and other conglomerates. "This may not be a time to write songs always about the things we used to write songs about. The political culture of the nation is the water in which all bands swim, as Bobby Kennedy said about scrod."

For all the broad politicizing, Sympathizers hone in elegantly on their home turf on "Kosmo Vinyl." It is a hopeless love song to Philly, from Port Richmond to the Italian Market — its rough politics, its blue collars, its separatist neighborhoods.

"The song is about being on the outside but also implicated," says Braddock. "Vinyl" takes on Frank Rizzo, burly block captains and the cheery air of his local pizza parlor. "All of the things that come together in that song are all in the context of what it is to make music right now."

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Sympathizers
Dread at the Control
(THNTHN)
Disparate references to Television ("Our Meteorologist, Tom Verlaine"), Mick Jones (the guitar line of "American Tourister") and Augustus Pablo (the spacey-dub openness throughout) can't stop Sympathizers from sounding familiar and brand-new at the same time. While black-humored lyricist/squeaking singer Jeremy Braddock takes on bioterrorism, media paranoia and local politics, the arrangements are sympathetically minimalist despite their crotchety complexity. Echo-soaked instrumentals ("Appearance Is Essence"), feedback-driven nightmares ("EIFUKU") and gorgeously distaff ballads ("Another Green Desert") are brittle-boned creatures held together by trickling bass lines, wiry weirdness and a most intuitive drum machine. Sure, the jaggedness du jour of Gang of Four's guitars creates easy comparisons. But the mirthful alien blending of these angular strings, a kitchen sink of dry, sinewy noises and socially aware, bile-sucking lyrics makes Dread smartly challenging.

Sympathizers play with Doctor & Philip and Eat Forever, Thu., Aug. 4, 10 p.m., $7, Silk City, Fifth and Spring Garden sts., 215-592-8838, www.silkcitylounge.com.