Midwest Product

Midwest Product's new album, the Ann Arbor-based trio's followup to last year's decidedly more blue-collar gem, Specifics, finds them exchanging glitch for an airy pop sensibility. Not exactly a surprise when it's titled World Series of Love and a thick stream of rainbow graces its white cover. But after a...

By Hunter Stephenson

October 9, 2003

[
        {
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Inline Content - Mobile Display Size",
          "component": "19274298",
          "insertPoint": "2",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "2"
        },{
          "name": "Editor Picks",
          "component": "17482312",
          "insertPoint": "4",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "1"
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "18711090",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "17482310",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "18711090",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - Leaderboard Tower - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "17482313",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        }
      ]

Midwest Product's new album, the Ann Arbor-based trio's followup to last year's decidedly more blue-collar gem, Specifics, finds them exchanging glitch for an airy pop sensibility. Not exactly a surprise when it's titled World Series of Love and a thick stream of rainbow graces its white cover. But after a bit of disbelief and, upon flipping the case over, reading the title "Avant Poop" after a mere seven tracks, all paranoid notions of a trendy Bravo hipster makeover are easily dispelled. Besides, Rocky, J.D. Salinger's paperbacks inspired this rainbow.

Unlike the rest of Ghostly International's adroit stable (which includes phenoms Dabrye and Matthew Dear), Midwest Product gets bizzy with both electronics and ye ol' axe and chisels. The rather safe opener "Dead Cat" is whisked into gear by guitar and percussion before "Bank" (here's hoping you've never heard Fear Factory's remake of "Cars") emits a smell of Eighties nerd cheese. Not too rad with so few remaining tracks. But ethereally shifting fractal explosions like "Swamp" and "Duckpond" bust open the planetarium, leaving "Umbrella" to go supernova as you ponder the cosmos and love like a (seemingly content) Ghostly ghost.

KEEP NEW TIMES FREE... Since we started New Times, it has been defined as the free, independent voice of Miami, and we'd like to keep it that way. Your membership allows us to continue offering readers access to our incisive coverage of local news, food, and culture with no paywalls. You can support us by joining as a member for as little as $1.