Search - Toe 2000 :: Toe 2000

Something like Tortoise, Eleventh Dream Day, and Isotope 217, Toe 2000 picks up the methodical rhythms of Chicagoans Doug McCombs on bass and David Pavkovic on drums. Add to that the out-leaning jazz guitarist Jeff Parker and you have a group that moves like a shadow. They keep their melodies gritty with Parker's mix of transparent strums and rankled distortions and focus in on beats that stay locked pristinely on the heart of the band's tunes. Yoko Noge makes several appearances singing and nearly speaking, creating narrative drama that's filled with a tension that might originate in the give and take between so carefully instrumental a bunch as McCombs, Parker, and Pavkovic and so meticulously vocalic as Noge. As the CD develops, you get a deeper experimental vibe, with samplers reeling out mangled sax lines and various other metamusical elements, driving the ear beyond the music's several surfaces. --Andrew Bartlett