A God-awful Small Affair

First off, two quick apologies. One for not posting a review yesterday; was extremely tired and am beginning to run out of albums I haven't reviewed - second, for keeping this one delayed. I got an email from the band back in mid-April, a (in their own words) postrock band from Italy who've put themselves into the genres of ambient, experimental and psychedelic (according to their MySpace). Their third album now, Lesson 3 is certainly an intense listening experience. First track 'Damaged Robots (In A Camomilla Bar)' is a U2-like experimentation with distorted guitars, twee tunes and, most impressive, drummer Aleesandro Salzmann's frenetic energy. It rockets along always with a sense of danger, culminating in quite explosive atmospherics. 'Part-Time Superhero' however reins in the tension with a track not dissimilar to DeVotchKa's "How It Ends" from the Little Miss Sunshine soundtrack. With a slow electronic drumbeat however it sounds more like ...