LOS PLANETOS DEL AGUA - Too Many Bricks And Not Enough Sea (album) Posted by claire on Monday, February 25, 2002 Currently riding on a wave on relative acceptance, post-rock seems to be at its most healthy. From the birthplace of Slint and the critical and relative commercial success of Mogwai and Sigur Rós, a nationwide underground scene is forming via a league of small independent labels, including bands such as Epic 45, Grover and Los Planetos Del Agua. ‘Too Many Bricks And Not Enough Sea’ is Los Planetos Del Agua’s attempt to finally release material to back up their reputation as Derby’s very own masters of minimalist avant rock. ‘Selfish Killer And Patriotic Whores’ rises from its space station guitar and evolving crackles into a blazing wall of furious overdriven frequencies and blaring horns, whilst ‘Columbo’ soothes in a form of lounge-core post-rock, the rolling bass line complementing the gentle vocals. The sombre ‘We Celebrate The Absence Of Physics’, featuring dextrous minimal instrumentation and a dream like vocal delivery from Tony P Woodall, is a stark contrast to the explosive jagged opening riff of ‘Column A Column B’, before Jerry Hope’s spoken word on ‘’I Couldn’t Help Her Stay So I Helped Her Leave’, the grandiose epic ‘Mercury 13’ and the acoustic space rock of ‘They Sharpen As They Sooth’ bring the album to a poignant and graceful climax. Los Planetos Del Agua prove that if you scratch far enough below the hype and the mainstream, there will always be something of substance and beauty in music. Andy Robbins