The Nein

Related Content

• BLKHRTS, Wu-Tang top our weekly playlists
  January 26, 2011
• Social networking: Denver ranked 3rd in U.S. by Men's Health (eat our hashtags, Portland!)
  March 14, 2011
• Why LCD Soundsystem mattered
  April 4, 2011
• Frank Bonanno, Alex Seidel, Jennifer Jasinski, Steve Ells and James Rugile among James Beard semifinalists
  February 18, 2010
• Dualistics reach Nirvana
  April 6, 2009

More About

• Dale Flattum
• Nirvana (Musical Group)
• Durham (North Carolina)
• Les Savy Fav

Like this Story?

Sign up for the Music Newsletter: Keep your thumb on the local music scene with music features, additional online music listings and show picks. We'll also send special ticket offers and music promotions available only to our Music Newsletter subscribers.

Privacy Policy Cancel Continue

Steel Pole Bath Tub was one of the more compelling casualties of the early-'90s major-label bidding frenzy that followed Nirvana's dark-horse breakthrough. After a decade of producing enigmatic, sample-addled drone rock, the outfit was dropped by London Records in 1996 for planning to release a disc that covered the first Cars album in its entirety, and it ended up disbanding. But Dale Flattum -- the architect of all those dense, pop-culture-pillaging collages -- has resurfaced in the unlikeliest of places: Durham, North Carolina, as a member of post-emo contender the Nein. The group, born from indie act the White Octave, existed as a trio for a year before adding Flattum to its roster a few months ago to record Wrath of Circuits, its full-length debut. The union is perfect: Mutant dance rhythms and spiraling riffs reminiscent of Trans Am or Les Savy Fav are granted extra dimension by Flattum's tastefully executed assault of sample-sliced madness. The Nein might not match the pulsing, sub-industrial psychedelics of Steel Pole Bath Tub, but it brings the noise nonetheless.