For 100 We Try Harder

The debut effort from this newly reconfigured, San Francisco-based band kind of defies categorization, which is probably what they were shooting for, but doesn't count for as much as they probably think. The fact is that there's nothing wrong with music that fits a neat category (nor with music that doesn't); what matters is whether the music is fun, and this music only hits that mark sporadically. Ee is not a band who favors songs. Instead, they put most of their effort into long, rambling instrumentals that are slow, moody, and often quite pretty even when they're rather noisy; "Swallowed East" and "You Forgot Your Part" are good examples. Sometimes, however, they're just boring, as is the case with the interminable "March of the Chogo Kin." The songs are typically better, and the emo-ish "Beijing" is one such example, as is the hidden and untitled track that lurks annoyingly at the end of the program behind 89 silent, three-second pauses. For 100 We Try Harder indicates tremendous potential on the part of this undeniably talented quartet, but for that potential to be realized the band is going to have to, well, try harder.