The Everlasting Belt Co. is far more of a straight-out rock record than most of Edsel’s other releases — it sports some of the atmospheric dreampop influences that cropped up unsuccessfully on Strange Loop, but it seems far more involved with its pounding and bombast than anything else. While it’s not nearly as interesting as later releases like Techniques of Speed, the straight-ahead quality of The Everlasting Belt Co. does allow for hookier and more accessible songs — “Shaster!” borders on the sort of slightly-noisy pop song Velocity Girl might have constructed, and the pop qualities of many other tracks tend to be more immediately engaging than Edsel’s work usually is. – Nitsuh Abebe
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