House of Bread - Superhuman Tomb (Self-Released, 2010)

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As the cost of digital home recording equipment falls, the amount of “professional sounding” recordings rise. It’s a simple ratio, yet at times can be a difficult pill to swallow, especially if mimicry of the “big boys” is at the heart of production. The availability of home recording equipment has been prevalent for a long time, yet it’s the new advances in digital recording that have really pushed quality ahead of tape recording as well an insurmountable increase in quantity of self-released and home-recorded music. General modes of self-releasing music ascribe to the litany of Do-It-Yourself technique, which in and of itself became not only a motto or a way of working but also carried a lot of genre defining stylistics. Many of these style attributes (photo copy, handwriting) are still prevalent yet are no longer definitive of self releasing music. There are now many modes of self releasing music that can have something of a “hands off” approach through the use of professional printers and format (tape, CD, vinyl) duplication.

Superhuman Tomb by House of Bread is an example of the new codes of DIY music, which utilize home recording with professional-sounding techniques, professional printing and duplication of media as well as appropriated art work from a third party. Superhuman Tomb is the third self-released album by the duo of Omar Afzaal and Bob Haddad. Whereas many other artists in their situation are releasing CD-R copies of music with homemade inserts and packaging they have opted to make use of the wealth of technology driven, low cost, professional approaches to self-releasing music. They use all of these modes of construction (recording and duplication) to great effect in that the sleek production value of the physical object of disc and packaging extends to the craft of their compositions as well as the audio fidelity.

House of Bread’s work is pop music with a “through the looking glass” affability that utilizes the slew of home recording technology from programmed drums to MIDI and virtual instruments as well as guitar and effect pedals. The programmed drums give a metronomic normalcy which is offset by the performance of the dual guitars which riff with one another syncopated against the beats and rhythmic synthesizer melodies.

Overall, one could dance to this music, yet there is a vibe produced through the dual vocals of Afzaal and Haddad that seems aimed more at introspection than corporeality. The two split lead vocals pretty evenly and back each other up on each song. The songs on which Haddad takes lead vocals have an immediate familiarity whereas Afzaal’s tend to be a bit more esoteric. It would be interesting to hear them switch leads on some of these tracks (remix? double take?) to hear if it’s the vocal performance or compositions supplying that familiarity.

The final track “Blood Scouts” finds the duo merging their influences in piecemeal. One can hear bits of Brittany Spears-ish pop production and beats with tinges of the darkened pop music of The Cure or New Order as well as 90’s guitar bands such as the Smashing Pumpkins or Hum. The drum beat here is a bit more innovative than the rest of the album, but is still in common time with a noticeable regularity supplied by programming. “Blood Scouts” plays as something of a hybrid of the entirety of the album, which carries that distinct “last song on the album” sound, yet plays as a cumulative schizophrenic composition of multiple songs strewn together.

From inception to production Superhuman Tomb carries many trademarks of the shifting face of DIY culture and a range of musical “pop-isms” distilled through craft and record collecting. By utilizing affordable technology to their utmost advantage, Omar Afzaal and Bob Haddad have created an eclectic album of music which could go well with wine or beer, the dance floor or your desk. And although I'm not crazy about the title or artwork (it's a bit misleading as to the musical contents) what matters most is the music, which will more than likely leave you smiling about feeling weird.



[House of Bread Website]
[Buy/Download Superhuman Tomb from House of Bread]