Belong, or the duo of Michael Jones and Turk Dietrich seem not to care much about the time it takes to come up with a new album. Their previous (second) offering Common Era, came out in 2011, so it took them 13 years for this one, Realistic IX.
Why? It doesn’t really matter, and the duo doesn’t give an explanation either, nor, on the evidence of the album itself, should they give one. What you should remember here is the time it took Kevin Shields and MBV to create Loveless, since the moment this one opens with ‘Realistic (I’m Still Waiting)’, the comparisons will start ringing in your ears.
Yet, as the album unwinds through the eight pieces here, another question pops up – does it matter (again)? Not really, as Jones and Dietrich’s take on the ‘bleached guitars’, those Neu! motorik beats and deeply subdued vocals (where there are any) and take them all to the top (or bottom), making the album worth that 13 years of wait.
It is all incessant, exhilarating, and unstoppable (in any order of those you wish) and Jones and Dietrich got it, whether Mr. K. Shields and Mr. M. Rother join at some point or not. It is all realistic, and they simply belong, here and now.
