…And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead – Source Tags and Codes
(Interscope)

It’s easy to be put off by the buzz that this band has been generating this year. Between the endless comparisons to Sonic Youth, their tired reputation for smashing their instruments after live performances, and the whispered predictions about them being the next big thing since At The Drive-In, it’s hard to know what to think. This may even be one of the reasons why I have taken so long to write this review. But if you want the honest truth, well let me tell you… from the instant I threw this album on, it was everything I had hoped it would be, and more.

One complaint I’ve always had about the Trail Of Dead is that their previous albums were kind of hit and miss. There were some really good songs, and some forgettable songs. Many of the songs sounded the same. And there were a lot of really noisy songs. This time around with the help of major label funding, they have managed to engineer with the perfect balance to their music and record a masterpiece.

On one hand Source Tags & Codes appears to be the most catchy and melodic album they’ve written to date; there is more effort made to actually sing, as opposed to simply screaming or muttering unintelligibly. Also, the production of the album is such that the underlying melodies of the songs really shine through. Even when it gets noisy, the noise is controlled and used in clever ways. Songs like “Relative Ways” and “Baudelaire” are ingenious in their simplicity and also in the restraint that they exhibit. The tunes sound vaguely familiar, and yet also unpredictable and exciting. Then you’ve got songs like “Homage” and “Days Of Being Wild”, which are basically straight ahead punk rock songs, and they still sound every bit as raw and chaotic as they should despite the glossy production.

The Sonic Youth influence is definitely here, but I am also reminded of The Pixies and The Cure along the way. Source Tags & Codes has a kind of timeless feel to it. I can’t describe it really, maybe it’s just the “spiritual” feel that permeates the songs, but they really get under your skin, and they keep getting better with each listen. Take a song like Monsoon, with its soaring vocals and spacey, orchestral ending… as cheesy as it sounds, it takes you on a journey. In fact, this is what the entire album does as a whole. The title track that closes the out the album floats along on melancholy waves of distortion, vocal harmonies and faint strains of piano and strings… another example of the band’s maturity, resisting the urge to simply erect a wall of noise, and it leaves no question that the album you’ve just heard is indeed something special.

This is one of those records that I know I will still be listening to 10 or 15 years from now. It’s worth checking out, even if you never thought much of these guys to begin with. — Sean