| CD REVIEW Titan |
 |
|
Band : Titan Okay, for starters: do not confuse thís American band for the Swedish one we came across in one of my TSM/SLW Promotion Agency specials (some time ago). As I already mentioned this is an American band, you'll not confuse 'em for any of the other bands called that way (there one from Australia, from Canada, from France, and of course the infamous British one - NWoBHM, you know - which left us 3 singles). Neither are you to confuse this Titan for the ones from Washington (formation date uncertain, left us one 2001, current status unknown) or Gardena, California (formed in 2007, have one 2010 demo on their active sheet)! This quartet is from Brooklyn, New York, and consists of synthesizer player Kris D'Agostino, guitarist Josh Anzano, bassist Steve Moore, and drummer Dave Liebowitz. Failing more accurate info, I can only deduce (from the opening date of their MySpace page) that the band was formed somewhere earlier in 2005. They first released an untitled cd-R, with material categorized as “Kraut Rock/ Improv Rock”,released through Paradigms, but only available on the band's gigs, and through the small imprint aQuarius Records. In the Fall of 2008 Wakusei Records re-issued the material from the cd-R, after having it remixed by Jerry Cannon (Bad Wizard, Dalek, Dillinger Escape Plan, Onéda), on clear & orange 12-inch vinyl (500 copy rotation), retitling the thing as Pilzmarmelade (loose translation, “mushroom marmalade”, a reference to the band's freaky Spacey Kraut Rock, I'm sure. In 2007 the band saw their debut full-length A Raining Sun Of Light And Love, For You And You And You released through Teepee Records. This release saw the guys introduce some Stoner influences, and also relearn/ re-record the second track on their debut EP (which was essentially an in-studio improvisation). Descriptions now came to compare the band as a mix of Hawkwind (the spacey side of things, you know) with Can (still the Kraut & improv thing). The 5 songs on new album Sweet Dreams were recorded earlier this year at Brendan Tobin's Brooklyn Translator Audio studio (see also Made Out Of Babies, Red Sparrowes), and are a removal from the band's previous material in, as stated by Anzano : “Sweet Dreams has been the culmination of major urges within up inside all of us to be a bit faster, a bit harder, a bit trippier and generally more aggro in our approach to writing, jamming out, and conceptualizing the songs and record as a whole. It's a lot tighter, but it's also a lot looser...were pretty stoked on the final results, and we hope that you are too!”. Well now, Josh, I personally certainly am! Just to give you an idea of how I love his album, I'll have you know that I was so reluctant to let go of the album (because...once a review's done...) after the last paragraph, I decided to sit down with a good book and allow myself some more listening sessions, in stead of continuing with the review. So, this is the following day, and all good things must come to an inevitable end! As far as the album's material is concerned, expect a continuation of the band's usual antics. In following with the Kraut Rock tradition, there's a lot of instrumental stuff here, but there's also the one song (“Wooden Altar Beyond The Altar” - the one track off the album that's posted at myspace.com/titanaut alongside the one track off their previous album and an excerpt of an improv session) with vocals that have one wondering why the guys don't do that more often (ach well, for one thing: that would demand more fixed song structures, wouldn't it, at least partially?). Right now, what you get is a freaky “let go” attitude from the musicians, and there's apparently little “egotism” in this band, as there's moments where the keyboardist is allowed a starring role (track 2 on the album, “Synthesaurs” is a keyboard/ synth track without any guitar in it at all), and others where the guitarist goes off on a solo bout, the two leaving each other the space to work out their ideas until the end, and then yet other moments where the two freak out in unison! If one thing's to be said of the musicians, it's that they have a good feeling for each other. In following of the Space Rock thing (hey, now I get it...the “titanaut” thing, I mean...”aut” coming from “astronaut”, of course!?) you get the wacky album titles. Well, there you have it: another addition to that already lengthy “Album Of The Year 2010” list of mine! The only complaint I have, is about Relapse's method of protecting their interests. True enough, in the past they found “music journalists” (I'd rather call that inconsiderate idiots, helping to destroy musicians' possibilities to live off their music into which they poor so much of their time and efforts) distributing their stuff illegally through the Internet. Used to be they dissected their promo cd-Rs into 99 short cuts (annoying enough, as most mp3 players will give you a small mute pause between tracks), but since they've joined the iPool thing, they've resolved to putting a bleep into the music every 30 seconds...which wouldn't even be thàt annoying, if it wasn't so blaring loud! Vinyl freaks will be happy to hear the album's also available in gatefold LP format (hey, this is Relapse, after all). And thàt's the format I'll be trying to purchase! 98/100 Tony. |