Caution- this is not your typical NYC/Brooklyn band (and rather refreshingly so) Turn the page if you are looking for a garage-y sounding "The" Noun band. I finally got around to picking up Televise after catching the band blow away Interpol's performance at the 930 Club late last year (and subsequently, yes, downloading mp3's).
In fact, every time one of their songs made it into my Ipod's (Sweet, sweet machine of bliss) random rotation, I kicked myself for not picking up the cd. "Remember to get this, Jen" I'd say, but then get distracted by all of the great new releases of the past few months. Lucky for me a copy of Televise was staring me directly in the face while at Other Music on Friday. Not a rare find in NYC, but seemingly hard to come by in CD store challenged WDC. For whatever reason, I rarely buy cd's online save for eBay as I truly love the thrill of browsing cd stores. I suppose I will keep the medium alive considering my rate of consumption.
Imagine the moody dronings of God Speed You Black Emperor, or Spaceman 3 and then add beautifully moody and sullen vox courtesy of Aurelio Valle. The cd has been described in other reviews as late night music and that is quite an accurate depiction. The dream like qualities of Valle's voice coupled with the mellow, almost droning of the accompanying guitars/keyboard will either lull you to sleep or provide a nice subdued backdrop to a little nookie. Calla is languid, moody and sexy all at once. Sedate yet teaming with emotion.
Televise opens strongly with Strangler, my favorite track on the cd. Valle inhabits the soul of a jilted lover and sings "Something's grabbed a hold of my tongue, see what you've done... I would give anything just to see it happen to you." That soundtrack has played on repeat in many heads' heartbroken, yet Valle sets it to such a chilling musical backdrop.
Unrequited love is a central theme to Televise it seems, but it is quite stunningly depicted. On the second track, Monument, Valle sets his sleepy lyrics, pleading "come back or leave me out, you can leave me out" to a pulsing, almost ticking bass and droning guitars.
Article comments
1 - Eric Olsen
Very cool Jen, thanks.
2 - ocular spectra
this is an excellent album. the new one, 'collisions' is good too, although it takes some getting used to as they've evolved yet again. here's my blog post on their record release show:
http://echoplex.blogspot.com/2005/10/and-then-i-see-darkness.html