For reasons I'm unable to fathom, hardcore Red Red Meat fans are hard to come by. To me, Red Red Meat's last two albums were some of the more innovative rock albums of the 1990s, but only registered as a blip on the radar for the majority of the indie masses. A few diehard admirers do exist, the most visible being Modest Mouse frontman Isaac Brock. Not only did Brock choose to have de facto Red Red Meat leader Tim Rutili's band, Califone, open for Modest Mouse on two tours, he also spent his major label money recording with Red Red Meat drummer Brian Deck. (How about that name for a recording engineer?) And despite misgivings from a few tin-eared pundits, Deck's rusted-out sonic tapestry was a major contributing factor in making The Moon and Antarctica so compelling.

Deck's production sound is among the most distinctive in indie rock. As demonstrated on several Perishable Records releases, his is an "anything goes" approach, where instruments of all kinds are made to sing in previously inconceivable ways. Banjos are scraped with dental implements, piano strings need not stay inside the piano, and he's as likely to beat on a brake drum as he is a snare. All of these sound devices are recorded and processed in ways perfectly appropriate to the needs of the song. This industrial approach maintains an organic feel even as Deck feeds the works into his computer and slices the original recordings into a tattered pile of ribbons. It's a clever use of technology with respect for tradition.

Deck is also a member of oRSo, along with fellow Red Red Meat drummer Ben Massarella, keyboardist Gilian Lisee and frontman/guitarist/banjo player Phil Spirito. Deck shares production credits with the band, but his fingerprints are all over these master tapes, as every instrument imaginable is played and recorded in ways its inventor never imagined. From the plucked piano strings that open "Wizcaphonia," which sound like the clanging halyards of an abandoned ghost ship, to the cymballess tribal drumming that fades on "Circle R," this is a Deck junkyard production par excellance. The key here is the staggering variety of sounds. A guitar might appear to have been pulled from scratchy, compressed 78s, while the drums bear the unmistakable imprint of digital technology.

Unfortunately, the sound is most of what this album has to offer. Spirito is an ace on guitar, banjo and organ, but his singing just doesn't cut it. His tuneless tenor struggles to navigate these simple songs, and does so with little character. As a result, most of the album fails to resonate in any kind of melodic sense, and the listener is unlikely to bother with the lyrics. A few tracks process Spirito's voice in a pleasing way ("Well"), and occasionally combine his voice-- wisely, I might add-- with the more melodic Lisee ("Circle R"). But the best moments on Long Time By come with the instrumentals, where the band borrows the sound of patchwork folk and brings it into the present. Now, how about that Red Red Meat reunion?

-Mark Richard-San