by Charles Spano
With members of the Blood Brothers and Soiled Doves, the Chromatics mash through 15 cuts of lo-fi skronk, sass, and wicked guitar grinding. You could call this garage, but the Chromatics eclipse their rock revival peers with sheer originality -- think the Blood Brothers' attitude slowed down to a simmering and danceable no wave tempo. From the opening track, "NBA," it's clear that the Chromatics display the experimentation of Erase Errata, but with Devin Welch laying down thick, heavy guitars instead of sharp, picked squeaking and squawking. "Washed Up on a Beach of Infants" has singing that's like Jack White gone off the deep end, "Skill Fall" is an uncompromising piece of bass-driven rock noise, and "Two of Every Creature" is ominous and disorienting without ever risking becoming camp. "Plastic Kross" could be the one slow and quiet song off of the next Blood Brothers album, but when it comes down to it, Condor and maybe the Liars are the only peers of the Chromatics that really approach a similar post-everything sound -- one that abandons the towering architecture of post-rock for beautiful decay.