Tubelord – Tezcatlipoca

Tubelord occupy an odd position on the current musical map. Five years ago their sound may indeed have been a modernising swoop, and a step towards the position we find ourselves in now. Their brand of power pop – which finds itself in limbo between a flimsy attempt at math rock, with a slight appreciation for post rock, and an affiliation with pop rock; emerges amidst and upon the wave of similar bands in the past few years. Johnny Foreigner, Los Campesinos!, Dananananaykroyd and possibly There Will Be Fireworks all can be easily slotted into this odd sub genre, with the Campesinos appearing easily the most dynamic and innovative as of yet – Tubelord now need to develop and enhance their own sound. With Tezcatlipoca, in other words, they need to differentiate themselves.

In Our First American Friends Tubelord appeared at times to almost echo American Football, but an American Football more willingly commercial, and albeit less interesting and emotional and experimental. In Tezcatlipoca though, the only wilful echo of this lack-of-dynamism appears in short stints on Arbor – the EP’s opener. Having said that, Tubelord have at least attempted to sound nothing like they did on their debut LP; and it must be said, they appear better for it. Songs from the album, such as Propeller, could effortlessly slot into Dananananaykroyd’s Hey Everyone! – most obviously in the place of a song such as Black Wax. Their most well known, and possibly best song, I Am Azzerad must now take at least two paces backward now though, possibly even three. The transparent instrumentation and, one year on, the flat emotion of the first half of this track cannot stand beside the brilliance of Ratchet. A predominantly electronic track whose lyrics really do ooze some form of emotion admist a stop-start backing track. The inclusion of horns is a further step in the right direction also, they really do sound different, but it is undeniably Tubelord. It cannot stand beside Arbor, which blends acoustics with their trademark math in an innovative and worthwhile swoop. The melodies of these songs show instantly that Tubelord could very easily make their step towards commercial success without sacrificing their musical direction in favour of directionless pop rock, which they have at times been criticised of. This year the band acquired two new members – Tom Coulson-Smith and James Elliot Field – and it appears to have certainly influenced on the style applied. The most obvious difference though, is the production. This EP is produced by Steve Albini, whose flirtations and indulgences with post-hardcore and the development of ‘noise’ is particularly unique. (As well as this, he penned an impressive essay The Problem With Music which is certainly worth the Google-search and ten minute gaze – it is a refreshing and revealing insight into the corporate mode of the music industry.) Such production shines through here and the choice correlates with Tubelord’s development impressively well.

The track Bazel is the most obvious fusion of the two styles here, shifting between the Our First American Friends Tubelord and the Tezcatlipoca Tubelord throughout the song, before a breakdown and crescendo towards the last minutes of the EP confirms this new style’s victory. This EP was released fairly quietly, and with small amounts of publicity and advertising accredited towards it, but it serves as a snapshot of a young and progressing band as they work on their second LP, to be released in 2011, and the snapshot is impressive enough to earmark them now, and hope that such a trend is developed on and continued for the album.

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ALSO: These guys are playing at Auntie Annie’s on Sunday 19th September with support from Axis Of and A Northern Light. It should be attended by all.