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Sonic Youth Meet Otis Redding

Attempts to take old music forms and modernize them usually

end up more academic than listenable. And that's mostly true of

The Soul Of A New Machine, the latest from The Delta 72, a

swaggering bunch of hipsters whose love for Booker T. and R&B

infuse a

generic but heavy indie-rock vibe. Sure there are organs and

vibes and a

bit of the groove thing, but there's also slick retro cover art, loud

guitars and faint vocals, and leanings toward all the alt-rock

self-aggrandizement that became so painful after Nirvana.

This band's attempting to do something that might just be

impossible -- imagine Sonic Youth backing Otis Redding, and you

start to get an idea of what The Delta 72's about. You might think

such a combo is bound to prove emotionally inaccessible and just

plain confusing. Well, not entirely. While The Soul Of The New

Machine often branches into such murky territory, there's an

unmistakable charge to the songs that sets them apart from the

aping of most roots-rock combos. In fact, The Delta 72 are on to

something, even if that something has yet to be fully realized. At

the very least, the band manages to create a hybrid groove that

gives the stagnant indie-rock scene a much-needed kick in the

pants.

Take "Go Go Kitty," for instance, the album's second-to-last track.

The

harmonic is furious at the beginning, yet manages never to lose

the melody. The

undergirding grunts are straight out of Stax studios and are

echoed by

fuzzy guitar effects that become crisp chord slashing. For the

bridge,

the harp moans and pulls with the rhythm section as the muttered

vocals

creep in amid the noise. It's far from a weary re-tread, and shows

yet

again that there's still plenty of life in this thing called rock 'n' roll.

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