ROCKIST	HOME | REVIEWS | INTERVIEWS | BANDS ON TOUR | LINKS
BEST OF THE NEW BEST OF 2003 BEST OF 2002 BEST OF 2001	A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Taking Pictures - Friends are Ghosts From the ashes of the great band Hurl out of Pittsburgh, PA comes Taking Pictures. (Taking Pictures features 3/4 of Hurl.) Taking Pictures play slightly more complicated rock than your average Joe, but refrain from veering into the pedantic. Wistful and melancholy, they make great music for nighttime drives. (My Pal God) Tarot Bolero - Vaudeville Rising Organ-driven songs of dark nights and bad deeds. These six miscreants from DC (ex-members of Slant 6, The VSS, Heroin, and Antioch Arrow) must think Halloween isn't just a one-day event. I haven't heard music like this since I used to frequent saloons dressed up in white face-paint and slurp drinks that frothed like volcanoes. Poe would have loved these kids. (Ace Fu Records)	Tokyo Sex Destruction - Le Red Soul Communitte This is a pretty hot dose of garage-y rock and hyped-up soul. Definitely the best band I've heard out of Spain. Clean production and tight riffs makes this an album that stands up to repeated listening, rare for this type of music. These kids have every right to their place alongside (International) Noise Conspiracy, the Dirtbombs, and the Hives. The leftist nature of the lyrics and the adopted last name of Sinclair (presumably after White Panther Party leader John Sinclair) that all the band members claim will lead to MC5 comparisons, but that's okay since this band rocks! (Dim Mak Records)
Technician - Ted Serios 7" This band has been together for 8 years and I feel like I've missed out. Very good, very tight. The vocals are buried (intentionally, suggests the sleeve) real low in the mix making you really concentrate on the thumping bass, the picky guitar sounds, and the great hard-hitting drum work. (Tranquility Base Records) Teenage Fanclub - Howdy Howdy represents the logical progression into Beach Boys-esque harmonies and melodies that Teenage Fanclub has been working towards ever since Bandwagonesque. It has a hell of lot more in common with Songs from Northern Britain than Bandwagonesque or A Catholic Education. (In other words, this is more of a 1960s pop-influenced album than a rock album.) It is a pleasant album. It is a pretty album. And if you are a fan of Teenage Fanclub, you will no doubt be entertained. If, however, you come to this record with stars in your eyes hoping for another repeat of their earliest albums, you will not find it here. (Thirsty Ear Recordings)	Traluma - Seven Days Awake "Wage your war, you're gonna sleep right through this. Stay awake and face up to your conflicts." - "Klondike Revolution" Chicagans that learn some lessons from Fugazi et al, but definitely doesn't stick around for summer school. The lyrics are not bleak, but not incredibly optimistic either. I'd say the overall tone, although songs on here do stray from that tone, is learned resignation. I love the dual vocal attack when it happens and wouldn't mind hearing more. (Caulfield Records) Trans Am - Futureworld After already creating some of the most interesting instrument-only albums of the past decade, DC's Trans Am return with an album that adds vocals, digitized as they may sound, into their mix. The vocals actually sound part HAL, part Stereolab at parts and becomes just another instrument at their disposal.. The band on this album, as well as its last, Surveillance, seems interested in exploring where keyboard-based music and rock intersect and overlap. It's an interesting journey, I'll give them that. My personal favorite is "Television Eyes" which could be that unearthed Duran Duran track the world's been waiting for. I think they really recorded this to be the soundtrack to Fritz Lang's Metropolis. I'm going to the video store to check it out. (Thrill Jockey)
Thee Headcoatees/The Headcoats - split 7" The girls entertain with a slow tune called "Jackie Chan does Kung Fu" while the boys give us a rather clean sounding rocker. Always entertaining, they are. One for the jukebox. (Damaged Goods) Third Harmonic Distortion - s/t 7" One of the only good things about Baltimore. Clearly influenced by their neighbors in DC, yet not wallowing in it. They seem to be the kindred cousins of the late Kerosene 454, yet can be gruffer and also more delicate as the instrumental tacked on the end of side B attests. Side A, "He's No Diplomat," is a couple degrees from some of that cock rock I have hiding under my bed and must be the head-turner every time they play. I love the fuzzy effect on the vocals. Side B is not bad either, with this bass line that'll hypnotize you if you concentrate on it long enough. At one point, he sings "I feel like a million dollars" like someone might say "I just ran over your dog." Great. (Morphius)	Treiops Treyfid - s/t 7" Pop meets pot. . The A-side features a Mark E. Smith (The Fall) meets Fred Schneider (B-52's) voice which develops a David Bowie-esque feel on the B-side. The music on both songs makes me think I should be standing in front of the skinny mirrors at the fun house. (Coolidge Records) Trunk Federation - Lay the Hip Abandoning the jagged and quirky guitars we heard on The Infamous Hamburger Transfer, ex-Alias fruitcakes Trunk Federation pick up some keyboards, some helping hands, some 70's pop records, and a shitload of pot for a change of pace on this release. I think that Oliver Tremor Control and Creeper Lagoon fans would love this. (Plastique Recording Co.)
Three Penny Opera - countless trips from here to there Every bit as good as their last 7" indicated this would be. Fast, driving hardcore that could be the milkshake made from blending Quicksand, Drive Like Jehu, and Drowningman. Sick. And the truly scary thing is that their live show's even better than this! (Spectra Sonic Sound) Three Penny Opera - separate directions 7" Is it the singer of this band that used to be in Shotmaker? Anyway, when I saw these guys in Montreal, they were so loud and yet tight as fuck. I haven't seen a band that was that loud and still fun to watch in a while, with the exception of Drowningman. These guys hold back a bit more than you'd think, though, as the melodic moments on here serve as little breaks from the mostly intense lyrical, vocal, and musical barrage. This 7" certainly doesn't stray too far from the pack, giving us concise and furious displays of the power of these Ottawa five. I can't wait to hear the full-length, which is due any day now. (Spectra Sonic Sound)	Tugboat Annie - the space around you I have probably listened to this album more than any other Tugboat Annie record I own. That's saying quite a lot and it's not necessarily saying it's a good record. Part of the reason is that I was stuck with only three tapes a while back and part of the reason is that I can't figure out what they're doing or what they're trying to do. That second phrase is not to be argued. Tugboat Annie have progressed beyond just writing heart-wrenching lite rock songs to a level where they are looking to write radio songs. Problem is, I don't hear the hits. Turing Machine - A New Machine for Living Surprisingly good. My fave is "robotronic," a 8+ minute tune that evokes the mighty powers of Gang of Four, Jawbox, Don Caballero, Brainiac, and Brooklyn counterparts Pilot to Gunner all at once. Ex-Pitchblende members. (Jade Tree)
Thrice - The Illusion of Safety I mistakenly thought this would be just another hardcore record...some of the most intricate melodies and killer guitar-playing I've heard in a long, long time. (Sub City) The Thumbs - Last Match Just another criminally underlooked punk album. (Adeline Records) Tijuana Crime Scene - Change of Venue Simple pop songs that should please fans of Badly Drawn Boy, XTC, and East River Pipe.
MORE REVIEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .