Tradecraft Records

In Space, the debut LP from Employees of the Month is a collection of grinding guitar and synth grooves from Dan Melchior (Un Das Menace, the Broke Revue, Holly Golightly, Billy Childish) and Adam Smith (Unholy Two, Necropolis, Root Cellar). Inspired by groups like Cosmic Jokers and albums like the Red Crayolas The Parable of Arable Land, In Space was recorded live in Smiths rural Texas studio and was culled from hours of guitar and synth improvs that were eventually fermented into an LP length group of songs and scraps.

The music on this record reflects Melchior and Smith pulling from a set of influences as diverse as Brixton Dub, Cleveland Avant-garage, London Soul, Stommeln Krautrock, Dallas Psych, Columbus Punk and Houston Blues. EOTM manage to synthesize all of this into a surprising record that swings wildly from Throbbing Gristle-ish early industrial to electronic space rock à la Hawkwind to winding Velvets tinged guitar noise-outs, from to Pere Ubu adjacent mood pieces, to Lightnin Hopkins inspired blues grooves.

In Space has a solid foundation built from early American Blues music, but it is apparent from the first disintegrating guitar stabs that this is a record with an unconventional perspective of what a record should be. The sounds Smith gets out of his impractical homemade analog noise boxes and malfunctioning Croatian delay units is unpredictable, seeming to reference a dentists drill or a boiling tea kettle, locusts or rattlesnakes or maracas, changing on a dime as part of the interplay with Melchiors incomparable guitar playing. Sometimes the guitar work is minimalist country blues lines, sometimes it's maximalist soaring modal improvs.

No matter what Melchior is playing, the guitars are always rasping and gruff and filled with purpose. In that way, the guitars mirror Melchiors signature vocals which cut through drenched in equal measure reverb and scorn. The lyrics touch on themes of indifference and paranoia (River), self-reflexivity and passive aggressive control (Gatekeepers, Tacit), sorrow and loss (Laughing), and there's even some magical realism thrown in there, where Melchior imagines a walk to the local grocery store in the Texas heat as both death march and Conga line (Conga).

All that's to say these two have put together a postmodern blender of a record that makes sauce out of bones and milkshakes out of metal.