The_Transmissionary_Six-Radar-2006-JUST

Section

MP3/FLAC

Group

JUST

Size

66,68 MB

Files

13

Date

2006-08-19

NFO

Artist.......: The Transmissionary Six
Album........: Radar
Label........: Glitterhouse
Genre........: Indie
Catnr........: n/a
source.......: CDDA
rip.date.....: Aug-19-2006
str.date.....: 2006
quality......: VBR/44.1Hz/Joint-Stereo
Url..........: n/a

track  title                                          time

 01.   in spades                                     03:38
 02.   radar                                         03:54
 03.   the burglar                                   04:19
 04.   broker                                        04:08
 05.   pod bay doors                                 03:19
 06.   transmission line                             03:35
 07.   wires to rust                                 04:41
 08.   that wednesday                                04:34
 09.   when rowan and martin saved the day           03:20
 10.   infrared                                      04:14
 11.   take it on the chin                           03:19
 12.   top of your lungs                             03:28
 13.   bye bye blackbird                             03:46

                                            Runtime  50:15 min
                                            Size     66,7 MB


Release Notes:

Transmissionary Six have five star musical
credentials. They are duo of Terri Moeller and Paul
Austin. Their respective careers as drummer of The
Walkabouts and guitarist/songwriter of The Willard
Grant Conspiracy mark them out as alt.country
royalty. Radar is their fourth LP and it's an
object lesson in the genre.

Aided and abetted by various supplementary
musicians the pair have produced an intoxicating
blend of country noir and indie pop filtered
through 1950s production values. This is Nick Cave
and The Handsome Family playing poker and drinking
moonshine in a crumbling hotel. Moeller's vocals
are bruised and whisky soaked, Lucinda Williams if
she had been raised on Sonic Youth. Paul Austin has
touches of Grant Lee Philips and Richmond
Fontaine's Willy Vlantin romantic ache. The music
swirls in trembling vapour trails. Brooding, full
of taunting echo's of heartbreak and life on the
wrong side of the tracks.

The bass note that opens the LP goes off like a
back porch shotgun. A suitably ominous beginning to
In Spades. The rumbling bowed piano and Austin's
reverb drenched vocals creep under your skin. The
guitar solo is blackened and thorny, imagine Neil
Young if he joined The Bad Seeds. It's tense and
full of apprehension. The following Radar rattles
past on power pop drums and bassline that sounds
like the Stooges on a hoedown. The whole LP is
wrapped up in a warm fug of gentle distortion and
slap back echo - Sun Studio given an alt.country
twist.

The subject matter could easily become morbid or
melodramatic. Yet this is a lighter listen than it
may appear. The melodies are so strong and the
vocals so heartfelt that you are lost inside the
world that Transmissionary Six have created. It's
the happier country cousin to Richmond Fontaine's
The Fitzgerald. There is hope amongst the
heartbreak and petty criminality. The bad have
allowed the songs to draw breath and then release a
sudden sigh. The instrumental coda, twanging
guitars and weeping pedal stee, that closes the
final track Bye Bye Blackbird curl like smoke rings
around a fireplace on a winter evening.

Although they are masters of the form, the band are
not afraid to experiment with it limits. That
Wednesday brakes the alt.country musical mould. An
ambient/country hybrid, all shimmering floating
electronics and Bye shining acoustic guitars. The
electronic noise and Austin's vocal nestle
perfectly in the mix.

To weave such dazzling magic as the band do here
from a standard musical palette is testament to
their skill as songwriters and arrangers. The
bright piano and distorted guitar of When Rowan and
Martin Saved The Day or the transparent organ
chords and dry acoustics of Broker both lodge
themselves into my memory on a single listen. Let
Transmissionary Six add some dark drama to your
day. /musicomh.com

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