Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Spazzy no wave from Seattle

Got a new review up at Dusted, this one of the Seattle punk band Talbot Tagora’s first full length, which is called, Lessons in the Woods or a City. It came out today on Hardly Art, which is more or less Sub Pop, only different.

Talbot Tagora filters ’90s no wave post-punk through a grit-clogged lo-fi filter, sideways hopping over unpredictable anti-rhythms and making stomach-jolting leaps over irregular clusters of notes. Repetitive, psyche-battering noise obscures things – most of the songs sound like there was a jackhammer nearby during recording – yet, after a couple of times through, it’s easy enough to discern pop hooks. Their blend of lurching mechanical grind and teasing, just-out-of-focus tunefulness evokes the Pixies early on, Sonic Youth later, Swell Maps intermittently, Ubu sometimes, yet really none of the current crop of lo-fi-ers. You can look all you want for fashionable references to Jesus & Mary Chain or C86, but this is a whole different animal.

The rest

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4 comments:

Chase said...

I saw TT open for Abe Vigoda last week, they were great. Kinetic but totally wrecked. I like how you put it, awkwardness is part of the charm.

Signed, fledgling journalism student/reader of Dusted.

jenniferpkelly said...

Thanks Chase, do you live in Seattle?

I've never seen Abe Vigoda either, lucky you!

Chase said...

I actually live in Arizona, Abe Vigoda's new drummer is from here. They are a must see! They just played the Whitney, sure they're stopping off in Philly.

jenniferpkelly said...

don't actually live in Philly, unfortunately, just write for their alt.weekly.

I live in southern new hampshire and mostly go to shows in the Northampton MA area (occasionally boston, but it's a nasty three hour drive home, so only when it's absolutely necessary.)

Nice to meet you.

jenny