Caveat: I’ve always had a difficult relationship with Trans Am. I’ve never spoken at length about them with anyone, and I’ve rarely encountered strong opinions about them one way or the other. They’ve existed in a kind of vacuum for me, which isn’t aided by the fact that their diverse musical borrowings render any single piece of theirs practically irrelevant. But all of their output intrinsically exists under the Trans Am umbrella, which is nothing to sneeze at; if nothing else, their prolificacy and proficiency demand notice. And it’s this persistence of theirs -- represented not only by their relentless output, but also by their propulsive song structures – this adamancy, zeal, and confidence with which they continue indefinitely into the future: this is what’s so vexing.
And that’s the point, really. For all its aggro, overblown decadence, it’s humble music at heart, innocent and unassuming. They’re the incorrigible court jesters of what’s left of '90s post-rock, still with the audacity to write a great song and then call it “Triangular Pyramid.” And truthfully, at this point in their career, they have no choice but -- or at least, it makes the most sense -- to be good-humored above all else.
The press-kit is calling Sex Change “a return to form,” which strikes me as a tautological claim when it comes to Trans Am. Sure, this is the same Trans Am you know and love (or, love, but not in that way, as the case may be). Reportedly the three band members underwent a two-year separation, living continents apart in an effort to introduce some fresh air into what had been an almost annual LP release schedule. Does it show? In a sense. This isn’t a challenging album by any means, but it’s some of the most fun stuff they’ve recorded. When I listen to it, I’m reminded both of Ween’s White Pepper and Mogwai’s Happy Songs For Happy People.
There are always at least two sides to the Trans Am coin, and here there are primarily three, and I don’t mean to be dismissive by summarizing them as such: Okay, first you have the Euro-synth-vocoder shit, with that lean post-punk/sleaze-funk edge to it; then you’ve got this Neu! thing they’re doing, blissy mid-tempo Motorik pulse ambience with clean, sprightly little slide-guitar squiggles over it; and then like a metal thing, I mean HUGE guitars, bigger than usual, but never dark metal, more like '70s proto-metal stuff, and of course fucking fiery-as-shit drum work, double-kicks and everything.
See? Of course it all overlaps, and it’s never quite as simple as that. Hardly a mouthful, but -- it’s good. You get what you pay for with Trans Am. Sex Change will please both their fans and newcomers; in fact it might be one of the best intros to their work so far. Trans Am really is your friend.
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