 Trans
Am
"Liberation" CD
Thrill
Jockey
Genres: post-rock, experimental rock, electronica
Thrill Jockey
PO Box 08038
Chicago IL 60608
Jul 26 - Aug 1 2004 |
Liberation is the clever title of Thrill Jockey post-rock
outfit Trans Am's new 2004 album, a musical critique of the
Bush administration's war on Iraq. Following in the vein of
their previous political releases, the D.C. trio come across
explicitly - song titles include such blatancies as "Uninvited
Guest" and "Divine Invasion." Their message is
far from subtle, but they communicate it cleverly and convincingly. Though it is preceded by a remarkably gratifying instrumental,
"Uninvited Guest" really starts things off, chopping up and
modifying a Bush speech into a machine-like, robotic audio collage.
Many of the other tracks focus on governmental paranoia, including the
claustrophobic "Total Information Awareness" and the creepy
"White Rhino". Most of the other tracks are
instrumentals, including the powerful "Divine Invasion,"
which starts with the sound of helicopter propellers before morphing
into a full-on guitar/bass/drums instrumental number.
As it is, this is another good chapter in the Trans Am
catalogue. It isn't as inspired as some of their earlier
efforts, but still packs a strong message and some seriously enjoyable
pieces of music.
84%
Matt Shimmer
[Vitals: 14 tracks, distributed by the
label, released 2004] |
