I Re-invented Myself! (into a Distraction) or I Used to Suck But Now I Rule!

Thunderbirds Are Now!
Justamustache (French Kiss)

As I type this, I am attempting to download a Radiohead bootleg from 9/11. Yes, THE 9/11. With all the political Yorke-isms as well as mind blowing music this bootleg promises to offer, downloading it is rather painfully dull. Enter the distraction blasting for my kitchen boombox: Thunderbirds Are Now!

Yes, that exclamation point is part of their name and yes, I called them a distraction. It would be a hyperbole to vaguely describe them as much more. But this is the kind of distraction that you welcome, like the wave at a baseball game (author's note: I don't condone The Wave) or a workplace pizza party. In the music world of Bart Simpsons staring out a window during a boring lecture, Thunderbirds Are Now! (hereafter referred to as TAN!) is the John Deere antagonizing Groundskeeper Willie.

What does a distraction sound like? Well, if I were to use anyword, it'd be disruptive. As in, "playing air guitar is disruptive to writing your blog." TAN! swirls textured synths, raging post-punk guitars and breakneck rhythms. Justamustache, TAN!'s sophomore release, is a brand of controlled chaos, an album that reeks of intense arrangment but comes off spontaneous and fresh.

So wait, how could a band so full of energy, be so easily missed on their first go at it? The Detroit combo's debut was a spaz-core failure and TAN! set out to try a new sound citing Les Savy Fav and Mars Volta as major new influences. After a complete makeover in style, TAN! reemerged teeming with umph and awesome disco drum beats (and signed to LSFer Syd Butler's label Frenchkiss). Though it might seem extremely contrived that they would "change their sound" to the uber-popular disco-punk, the band does not seem at all hestitant to admit their first album sucked ass. At the core of this post-punk/disco-punk revival is the plain fact that eventhough it seems like everyone is doing it, duh, it's still fun. And that's what Justamustache is, pure unadulterated fun. The youthful nature is not so much hinted as it's pounded with a sledgehammer. The album opens with a spelling cheer of their band name and ends with "A-W-E-S-O-M-E, Awesome! Totally!" cheer. When "From: Skulls" comes crashing down from their power chords and fist-pumping hollering, singer Ryan Allen actually lets out a playful laugh.

A lot of this vibrance comes from the fine line they walk between post-punk and pop-punk. It's really a wonder how this 10 track album can clock in at 34 minutes. It seems much shorter. Every song, save for the relatively slow jam "Bodies Adjust" is played fast and loud. Allen's voice is somewhat feminine and makes for a bratty whine that really embodies TAN!'s esthetic. The hooks and shout alongs are pure punk fodder, but TAN! manages to inject their swagger, in form of blips and bleeps and strumming patterns to shake things up.

The Les Savy Fav influence is most heard on "198090 (Aquatic Cupid's)" with delay-heavy, reverb drenched guitars mixed with a robotic sythn drum flair. Both "198090 (Aquatic Cupid's)" and "Enough About Me, Let's Talk About Me" also feature Tim Harrington-influenced speak shout style singing. "To: Skulls" and "From: Skulls" are both guitar ragers and Mars Volta-lite, without the progginess, which after hearing Francis the Mute, might be for the best. The latter has a huge chorus: "If we waste all this precious time/ then we’ll commit the perfect crime/and scream “murder!” when we find you dead on the floor". This is exactly what TAN! strives for and achieves. They don't waste an ounce of inspiration on wankiness or experimentation. They explode like a fireworks show and attack like a flawless fighter jet formation. This is evident in the bands two best tracks "Harpoons of Love" and the cowbell heavy "This World is Made of Paper ... held together by a stapler" (perhaps the cheekiest song title I've heard in a good while). The former starts out like a blippy Hives track but culmintates in its closing minute, building up a momentum with a bass, clap track and beep, mixing in call and response vocals and then bursting into an unbridled guitar line that cuts like a ginzu.

Currently, Thunderbirds are Now! are a distraction. If they keep putting out great records they could graduate to being a "constant distraction" which is another way of describing "rock and roll lifestyle". Isn't that what glamourous, rock and roll lifestyle is? A constant distraction of booze, drugs, music and sex? Well, hell, that sounds mighty fine right now, just as the my final two bootleg tracks are in the queue. Sigh.


This is so right and so wrong at the same time.

Thunderbirds Are Now! are touring with Enon and will be playing Bottom of the Hill 6/19/05.

Thunderbirds Are Now!: http://thunderbirdsarenow.com/ http://www.frenchkissrecords.com/bands_thunderbirds.html