Tachyon Radio
Tachyon Radio (2009)
Brian Shultz
Tachyon Radio get points on this four-song self-titled demo for coming up with a pretty unique indie rock/punk-ish hybrid that sounds like a smokey collision between Jawbox and Little Joe Gould-era Murder by Death.
"Bloody Knife Fight" builds little bouts of tension here and there while a distinct, carefully picked riff drives the rest of the song. It's got a hint of atmosphere here and there as well, which is explored better in "Can't Buy Me Love," which starts off like something more dissonant and sinister from Cursive's Domestica before lowly, dusty vocals enter the fold.
If there's a melancholic path that just gets more and more morose as this EP goes on, "Over & Old" solidifies that. Even a humming keyboard layer helps add a fullness to the sound with no cheese at all. While closer "Dead Air Silent" is pretty disjointed in its structure, it's got some fantastic space and openness for the first time on the EP, and it builds to a mixed climax of scratchy yells, resolved singing and carefully caustic, almost post-rock-y instrumentation.
While some cohesion and rigidity is left to be desired, this is an unquestionably promising release from a pretty new band.