[Review] The Secret Machines (CD)
Oct. 29th, 2004 01:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elfsA few weeks ago Slashdot asked, "When does new music start to sound scary?" I answered, somewhat facetiously, "38," because that's how old I am. At first, I thought my opinion was confirmed when I listened to a John Peele tribute on the radio only to discover that The Undertones, which he adored, were in my opinion just another talented but unremarkable English punk band. But The Secret Machines have forced me to reconsider my answer.
It's hard to get past the first track of The Secret Machines' new album, Now Here is Nowhere, just because it's so damned compelling. "First Wave Intact" is a driving, rhythmic tour de force of drums, rough bass guitars, and vocals that goes on for nine minutes without once becoming boring. The second track, "Sad and Lonely," maintains the rough distorted feedbacking analog sound and beating drum that's so perfect for the song it must have been practiced and cleaned up a thousand times, yet never sounds forced. It sounds grungy without ever once sounding distorted or incoherent. And the lyrics are damned good: "Did you get your headrush and your heartache confused/ Have you been sleeping late 'cause you've been abused... "
Unfortunately, the album comes to a screeching halt with the third track, "Leaves," which is like early 70's Pink Floyd-- intersting and technically well-done, but such a slow contrast to the power of the album's opening that it feels forced and discomforting.
Other tracks on the album aren't as remarkable as the first two. They're all interesting, but nothing quite carries the power of "First Wave Intact," which demands that it be put in the car's CD player and then cranked to 11, but still leaves you breathless with the thought that went into it. There are moments worth attending, like the opening to "The Road Leads Where It's Led," which I've heard before-- it's a riff on a Riyuchi Sakamoto piece; unfortunately, the refrain, "Blowing all the other kids away (with all of your charm)" becomes a tiresome attention-getter, and makes the piece weaker than it should be. The album picks up near the end with the rocking and paranoid "The Light's On."
The Secret Machines aren't making anything "new"; they're well staked out somewhere in a Venn diagram of 70s space music influences, modern power rock sensibilities, messy punk and grunge instrumental stylings and studio technical virtuosity. But they're doing it well, and they deserve a listen.
It's hard to get past the first track of The Secret Machines' new album, Now Here is Nowhere, just because it's so damned compelling. "First Wave Intact" is a driving, rhythmic tour de force of drums, rough bass guitars, and vocals that goes on for nine minutes without once becoming boring. The second track, "Sad and Lonely," maintains the rough distorted feedbacking analog sound and beating drum that's so perfect for the song it must have been practiced and cleaned up a thousand times, yet never sounds forced. It sounds grungy without ever once sounding distorted or incoherent. And the lyrics are damned good: "Did you get your headrush and your heartache confused/ Have you been sleeping late 'cause you've been abused... "
Unfortunately, the album comes to a screeching halt with the third track, "Leaves," which is like early 70's Pink Floyd-- intersting and technically well-done, but such a slow contrast to the power of the album's opening that it feels forced and discomforting.
Other tracks on the album aren't as remarkable as the first two. They're all interesting, but nothing quite carries the power of "First Wave Intact," which demands that it be put in the car's CD player and then cranked to 11, but still leaves you breathless with the thought that went into it. There are moments worth attending, like the opening to "The Road Leads Where It's Led," which I've heard before-- it's a riff on a Riyuchi Sakamoto piece; unfortunately, the refrain, "Blowing all the other kids away (with all of your charm)" becomes a tiresome attention-getter, and makes the piece weaker than it should be. The album picks up near the end with the rocking and paranoid "The Light's On."
The Secret Machines aren't making anything "new"; they're well staked out somewhere in a Venn diagram of 70s space music influences, modern power rock sensibilities, messy punk and grunge instrumental stylings and studio technical virtuosity. But they're doing it well, and they deserve a listen.
