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.