you know how when people in bands find out you review music and they talk about how awesome their new cd is and give you a copy promising that you’ll love it and you cringe on the inside knowing that it will probably be trite and derivitive and a complete waste of your time? well, canadian band absent sound is nothing like that.
i met the guys in the band last weekend when i was working at the touch & go records 25th anniversary weekend. i was doing some much needed recuperating (read: drinking some beer) in the vip tent and ended up chatting with a group of the coolest folks ever. turns out, half the kids belonged to the the absent sound, who were hitting the chicago festival on the way from their native winnipeg to playing some shows at the knitting factory in nyc.
i was a little hesitant about listening to the cd they gave me but i found buried treasure with this one…it reminds me of godspeed you! black emperor (talk about a band name with an annoying exclamation point, no?), only the album i have, it’s all true, is much catchier and more melodic. i hesitate to use the phrase “an ambient soundscape of post-rock swirling with dreamy riffs and hypnotic samples and loops” because i am really not that kind of pretentious asshole, but i must admit that it kind of sums it up this music perfectly. and of course i haven’t seen them play yet, but from what i heard the live show is something to experience - movie screens and drum circles and projections and dancers and art and you name it, very interactive and out-of-body and interesting. (even pinatas!)  i cannot wait until these guys play chicago so i can check them out for myself.
anyway, their albums can be purchased at the tear gas recording tree’s site, along with a few mp3s - the song “don’t come home in pieces” is a sonic treat with headphones. i recommend that you give them a listen. check out their myspace too and in the meantime i’ll keep you posted with tour dates as they are announced.
2 Comments »
U’ve got good pics, the site could use a tiny bit of work (no offense) its still awesome
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Comment by amber — September 22, 2006 @ 3:38 pm
hey, that song is pretty all right. but did you get the feeling, when you first put it on, that it sounded like a slowed down-white boy-indie version of mj’s “billy jean”?
seriously. the bass line?
ok, maybe its just me. i’ve had too much coffee.