DD/MM/YYYY: Black Square

Talk about a warped sense of songs structure. To put it simply, DD/MM/YYYY’s Black Square is a jittery mashup of post-hardcore and lo-fi/sci-fi pop craziness that happily jibes when butted together on this cassette/digital offering. To call the Toronto five-piece a noise band undermines the group’s obvious mastery of fast-paced, captivating rhythms, exhibited in such songs as “Bronzage” and “Sirius.” To call it an experimental band implies that the balance of prog-guitar intricacies and lopsided melodies in “Infinity Skull Cube” and “Birdtown” are not meticulously crafted. On the surface, every bit of sonic clutter and damaged harmonics bleeds into a tangle of sounds that feels like chaos. But take a closer look and it all ties together with glorious and hallucinatory detail. (Impose Records) 3 stars out of 5