-=- SHGZ -=-
* Shoegaze * Indie * Post-Rock * Grunge * Dream Pop * Psych-Rock * Ethereal *
ARTIST..: TV Ghost
ALBUM...: Disconnect
GENRE...: Alternative
STYLE...: Post-Punk, Noise Rock, Shoegaze, Indie Rock, Psychedelic Rock
YEAR....: 2013
LABEL...: In The Red Recordings
COUNTRY.: USA
PLACE...: Lafayette, IN
FORMED..: 2006
ENCODER.: LAME 3.100 -V0
BITRATE.: 266 kbps avg
QUALITY.: 44.1kHz / Joint Stereo
SOURCE..: CD
TRACKS..: 10
SIZE....: 88.82 MB
URL..: https://www.facebook.com/TVGhost
https://www.discogs.com/release/10470442-TV-Ghost-Disconnect
https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/tv_ghost/disconnect
https://imposemagazine.com/reviews/disconnect-tv-ghost
https://bigtakeover.com/recordings/tv-ghost-disconnect-in-the-red
- TRACKLIST
1 Five Colors Blind 4:17
2 Veils 5:14
3 Placid Deep 2:53
4 Stranger 4:52
5 Dread Park 5:22
6 Elevator 5:14
7 A Maze Of Death 3:22
8 Cloud Blue Moments 4:44
9 Others Will Be Born 3:58
10 Siren 6:45
Total Playtime: 46:41
2013 album from the Lafayette, Indiana-based Alt-Rock band. On Disconnect, TV
Ghost displays a newfound maturity, incorporating churning rhythms and
Psychedelic drone into a lush torrent of gaseous keys, sprawling guitars and
eerie melody. Think Porcupine-era Echo and the Bunnymen and Tago Mago-era Can
run through a Cure Pornography blender.
*
Every era, every genre will have a revival. Some, depending on current
trends, may experience multiple revisitations. Late 70 s/early 80 s UK
post-punk has seen more than its share. And why not? Joy Division, Siouxie
and the Banshees, Bauhaus, The Cure, Echo and the Bunnymen were all great
bands. And we all saw how successful Interpol was at re-imagining that
classic sound. So what s going on here that s any different? Plenty!
For starters, TV Ghost incorporates the entire realm of post-punk into their
songs the goth guitars, spooky keyboards, hypnotic mid-tempo rhythms,
deadpan vocals, the works. But they also adeptly infuse their music with a
little Cramps, a dash of Scientists, even a glimmer of Can. Now just having
good taste doesn t automatically translate into the ability to record a great
record. Hell, I have a really good record collection too. Never helped too
much. As always, it boils down to the songs and Disconnect has ten really
good ones. Opener Five Colors Blind sets the tone right away. The Echo and
the Bunnymen influence is strong and singer Tim Gick gives us pretty good Ian
McCulloch. But there s also more than a little Daniel Ash as well. The
production is suitably dense but each instrument is given plenty of space to
breath. Veils sounds like it was performed in a cave and yet the guitars
have that clean reverb setting so many bands attempt and never quite master.
Credit should probably go (at least in part) to Ty Segall collaborator Chris
Woodhouse. His producer s touch hits all the right epoch-specific notes. This
could have easily turned into a typical In The Red release. Instead it may be
the definitive outlier in that label s awesome roster.
Certain tracks opt for a more psychedelic approach but are no less enjoyable.
Slow burner Placid Deep could be a real bummer were it not for TV Ghost s
expert rendering. Stranger throws in some cool Mellotron that adds to the
gloomy mood. Things actually pick up on Disconnect s second half. Songs like
Elevator and Cloud Blue Moment show how far this band has come in just a
few short years. They re not as frantic; they allow themes and riffs to grow
organically now where they once forced the issue. That leads us to the
penultimate (and best) track on the album. Others Will Be Born is an
angular, almost jarring song. Jackson Van Horn s guitar work is terrific here
as he channels early XTC while Gick murmurs way back in the mix. The
Mellotron returns and the band careens its way through the feedback and
motorik back beat. It s a great track and hopefully signals the direction
they might take going forward.
There is merit in being original. There is also merit in being good. TV Ghost
are good. Really good. Disconnect is the record you didn t know you needed to
hear. After all, how many of us are holding our breath waiting for a new
Interpol album? Not me. But as album closer Siren comes to an end I find
myself wanting more. I may, in fact, hold my breath for a new TV Ghost album.
*
In the beginning, Lafayette, Indiana s TV Ghost carved a path as a noisier
band. Scratching out twisted psychedelic punk through an industrial filter,
the band made synth- and guitar-based post-punk a platform for aggressive,
antagonistic dissonance and visceral horror. Names like The Cramps, The
Birthday Party and Pere Ubu have been thrown around with regard to their
sonic makeup, and that s not a bad starting point, if you add a much heavier
layer of distortion to any of them. Amid TV Ghost s hypnotic hostility,
though, there were strong melodies and compelling creative twists on albums
like 2009 s Cold Fish and 2011 s Mass Dream. Were TV Ghost to choose to shed
some of that eardrum-puncturing high-end and intense load of static, they
very well could have turned out some great pop songs, albeit darkly
atmospheric ones.
The thought of making a more strongly accessible, song based album must have
also occurred to TV Ghost in the last couple years, however. Over time, their
lo-fi shrieks have given way to a headier shoegaze sound that puts the band s
melodic sensibility at the forefront. And if there were ever any suspicions
that TV Ghost were, in fact, even better songwriters than noisemakers, new
album Disconnect confirms it. Their textures are no longer quite so ugly,
their production no longer as piercing. And, most importantly, their hooks
are sharpened and more pronounced than ever.
Because the approach is less openly discordant, however, does not mean that
the edge has dulled on TV Ghost s sound. On Disconnect, it s merely been
reshaped in the form of an eerie, gothic chill rather than a brutal
physicality. That the band has kept a certain sense of unnerving atmosphere
makes Disconnect all the more enticing. Anybody can make a lot of noise or
layer on the effects, but it takes a bit more creativity to find more depth
by stripping some of them away. A track like Veils, for instance, evokes a
strangely ominous tone through repetitious krautrock rhythms and some well
executed feedback hums. For his part, vocalist Timothy Gick only deepens the
creep factor with his monotone reading, which he juxtaposes against a more
dramatic croon on the epic Stranger.
On Disconnect s most impressive tracks, the band is now using their textural
approach to enhance mood, as they do on Dread Park, a cinematically
arranged dream-pop dirge in which guitars mimic strings and create cavernous
sonic cathedrals. Even better still is a track like Others Will Be Born, in
which a hypnotic, compulsive groove combines with interlocking parts of
chilling ambience and subtle hooks. There s still plenty of noise and
distortion on the album, but more than ever TV Ghost are using it with an
impressive level of restraint. Not that Disconnect would in any way be
considered a simplification; TV Ghost are simply showing us the sonic
delights that lie underneath their distorted veil
*
It seems like just about every genre is enjoying some sort of revivalist
movement these days. And, while many critics spend their words taking artists
to task for a lack of originality, everything operates in cycles. Trends
follow the path of the Ouroborus, and, like anything else, if the timing is
right, a genre study can be as valid a contribution as any especially when
it is as perfectly rendered as TV Ghost s newest full length, Disconnect.
The biography posted on the band s Facebook page makes it clear that they are
well aware that the sounds they produce have a tendency to evoke flashbacks
of a younger Ian McCulloch and the glory days of British post-punk. TV Ghost
frontman Tim Gick s vocals take on a similar air of abandon to those of the
main Bunnyman, but using that parallel as the sole descriptor does this
record a serious disservice.
Disconnect is a winding adventure through a world of caverns carved out by
delayed guitars that echo for miles, seas of subtle synths, and spooky organs
that add extra substrate when the guitars chase Gick s deep and brooding
cries into the sky. The drumming continuously pushes things forward, in both
the upbeat jaunts and trippy slogs through the nethers of psych-rock that
make up the record.
Album opener and lead single Five Colors Blind is a driving, hypnotic
rocker in which Gick fights through walls of reverse reverb. As the song
draws to a conclusion, he testifies in an inharmonic shout over blasts of
noisy guitars and sonic artifacts. The deep psych explorations of Placid
Deep and Dread Park are as satisfying as the upbeat jogs, everything
mapped out into a single, dynamic journey. Disconnect is a rich, cohesive
trip through the caverns of a psychedelic Atlantis.
Indiana s TV Ghost have taken a noticeable turn to the dark side on their
newest LP, eschewing much of the wiry, riff-heavy post-punk of their earlier
releases for a sound that is infinitely gloomier.
While comparisons to Pere Ubu, the Birthday Party or even a male version of
the Slits were fitting in the past, TV Ghost now come off like Echo & the
Bunnymen circa 'Heaven Up Here' or 'Porcupine,' when they were at their most
melancholic. The 10 songs on Disconnect are awash in reverb-drenched
atmospherics and psychedelic instrumentation, carried along at a stoner s
pace by a slow-marching rhythm section and imbued with morbid crooning by
frontman Tim Gick.
The track Placid Deep is a good example of the band s somber new sound. The
ending drones on for roughly a minute, as a haunting organ snakes its way
through a wall of noise and repetitive, slow-building bass and drums. It
leaves the listener in a trance, likely to forget this is the same band that
released the manic post-punk album Cold Fish only a few years ago.
Aside from the obvious push to go darker, TV Ghost are clearly experimenting
with space on Disconnect. The breathing room helps the songs feel bigger
and at times almost cinematic, and repeated listens reveal subtle intricacies
based on the interaction of bass, drums and guitar. The chorus of Stranger,
for example, includes a simple tremolo-affected guitar line tucked under the
mix that recreates the sound of a distant violin, while the sparse rhythm
section provides Gick with enough space to release the kind of blood-curdling
yelps that would make Scott Walker proud.
There s also Dread Park, in which Gick whispers his way through a morose
dirge of watery guitar chords and a restrained drum beat. If this tune were a
film, it would be a David Lynch flick, and the rest of Disconnect could
serve as the soundtrack.
For fans of the slightly more upbeat (but never joyful) TV Ghost heard on
prior releases, Others Will Be Born and Maze of Death channel some of
that bygone punk rock aggression, albeit with a heavy dose of atmospherics
thrown in. The band hasn't completely abandoned its rawer roots in the
attempt to expand its sound, and that's a good thing.
At times, Disconnect leans too heavily on guitar effects and layers of
synth to create a mood. The first half of opener 'Five Colors Blind,' for
example, sounds like TV Ghost playing around with their new gear for the
first time, layering noise and inaudible vocals over an uninspired beat.
Nonetheless, the band has taken a chance updating their sonic palette, and
the results are rewarding.
TV Ghost is arguably noisier and more innovative than Interpol and more
unsettling than contemporaries Weekend. They're clearly well versed in the
dark post-punk of countless '80s bands, and with Disconnect, they've
returned with a worthy addition to the record collection of anyone who likes
to revel in the gloomier side of rock music.
*
While this isn t typically my style, I thought I d venture out into the
shoegazer realm and check out TV Ghost. This genre is marred with bands that
can t sing, can t play instruments, and apparently can t afford a good
studio. Off-key vocals, guitar parts that sound like a 10 year who just
picked up the instrument six months ago trying to play La Bamba at
quarter-speed, and super reverby lo-fi recordings remind me of Friday nights
at Bar Sinister in LA, not being dressed goth enough, and having to don t
you know who I am my way in without paying the cover. Interestingly, this
album has these elements, but they don t seem to be a result of a band that
was quick to put out an album after jamming three times. Much like when I
first heard the Dillinger Escape Plan and thought, Either these guy really
suck and can t keep time, or they are geniuses (and of course the latter
being the case, as they are one of my all-time favorite bands now) this album
makes me cautiously optimistic that these guys are just really talented and
know the genre so well they are able to make it sound like they are not
trying, while still sounding really damned good. Songs like Placid Deep
show some fantastic texturing of sounds without overdoing it. They know when
to saturate the reverb, and when to dial it back, making for a beautiful
soundscape that has to be listened to with headphones to really admire it.
Throughout the album you can hear some great influences Echo and the
Bunnymen on Five Colors Blind, Lou Reed on Dread Park, and the whole
album has an eerie Nick Cave-ish vibe to it.
TV Ghost has been able to produce something here worth listening to. But,
when you are working in a niche genre, it doesn t pay to be different. They
might be a little too polished for the purists, and not polished enough for
the radio-crowd. I doubt that the band had pop stardom in mind when they were
forming the group, but they are working their way in the right direction.
Just like At the Drive-in was able to eke out some success when their Grand
Royal debut hit the scene (before the band and label went belly-up), TV Ghost
has a chance to use this album as a stepping stone towards either commercial
prominence in a small demographic, or become underground heroes that work in
accounting firms by day, and rock out by night. Either way, it s a decent
album, well-produced, and worth a listen regardless of your personal tastes
and interests.
-=- SHGZ -=-
-=-=-==-=-=-
Shoegaze
is a genre of alternative rock that
originated in the late 80s. The genre is very
difficult to define, and it is even more difficult to evaluate music
within it. Generally, the genre is characterized by its
shimmering vocals, reverberating guitars, and
textural distortion that create
a tranquil, opaque
feeling.
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