Some bands are coming out of the blue and breaking all the rules and conventions, and delivering what we should simply call “the real thing”. Music. Not conveniences. Not consumables. Not that predictable boom-boom, bang-bang what we use to upload in our mp3 players to cover the urban background noises and isolate ourselves from all the others and the rest of the world. No. It’s definitively something it’s very wrong whit this species.
But this isn’t everything. If a really-really good, to the bone creative and ground breaking band surface the scene, mainly they will come and go unnoticed and will disappear in the media trash. People love products, prefabs, love the s*it nicely packed in cellophane, love Lady GaGa because she’s so eccentric! And we love any other bitches, any other freaks and any other fake and fabricated star the industry and media deliver to us as “the real thing”, but never, never, never, the real thing.
The real thing it’s weird, unusual, not easy to assimilate, hard to compare and impassible to label, to fit into a box.
Although they manage to infiltrate one episode of “NCIS: Los Angeles” and had a song placement in the documentary “h2indo”, Tangent Transmission it’s still mainly remains completely an unknown band.
They also were awarded with the Artist of the Year in the All Indie Magazine music awards last year. And they really deserve it!
All the tracks of their EP are posted on their Soundcloud page and are available for free download, but they definitively deserves our support, so, I recomend to buy their 5 track EP from iTunes for only $4.95. “Empty Bottles” (the track featured in “NCIS: Los Angeles”), posted on their Soundcloud page have only 173 plays since 1/1/2011! Almost incredible!
“Empty Bottles” starts smooth and quietly bringing some mysterious aromas through the piano and guitar chords. But they push up the tempo and the song take a different shape which reminding me eventually of a melange between Supertramp and ABASSADORS, very groovy, very tight, a kind of blow you away, genuine Indie Rock. And this breathing, alive and kicking feel it’s what makes so good this band! They manage to merge a dark and tensioned vibe with some extremely intense and groovy sound.
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“Self Acquisition” it’s even darker and intense, some grinding riffs with roots back to Progressive Heavy Metal and disturbing colors of tension are forged into one to create a weird sensation.
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“Plates” get funky. It’s almost like a chiller, more reasonable Mr. Bungle track with several dynamic and tonal shifts, but a vivid and tenacious groove throughout. Extremely complex, still compact track – a masterpiece!
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“Squeeze” chill things down with a very sensitive piano them and a warm, retro vibe. This is classy, 80’s flavored Rock with some Jazzy colors and a very smart groove and build-up. It’s truly nice. And at the middle have a real Jazz break which nails the whole track. Simply, subtle and absolutely great!
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“Call” it’s probably the most intense and heavy track of the release, starting out quietly, but menacing and explode right in the listener face as an unstoppable hurricane. Once again there is a dark tension throughout, a heavy gloominess in the vibe of the song and even when they shift with a riff into the Metal-like heaviness and intensity, that dark feel and tension breathing through the pounding drums and bone cutter riffs. The song closing gently and we’re just
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Sam- Percussion/Drums
Dugan-Vocals/Keys/Guitars/Didgeridoo
Nick-Bass/Vocals
K!rby-Guitar/Vocals/Awesome-Flux-Capacitor-Machine
And this is a new track:
“10,000 Years” reminds me of an Irish folk song with a touch of Gospel feel and Christmas aroma. But also reminds me of Queen, Dugan sounds very Mercury like in this one. Nice.
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/63187056″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
Official Bio:
Tangent Transmission is the conglomerate formation of musicians Conor Cruz, Dugan Cruz – Vocals/Keys/Guitars/Didgeridoo, Kirby Shaw, and Sam Sobo – Percussion/Drums. After forming in the summer of 2009, Tangent Transmission has stopped at nothing to saturate Southern California with their exciting and eclectic sound. The foursome has played in well-known Los Angeles venues such as The Whisky a Go Go, House of Blues, and The Roxy. In the studio, the boys crafted “Pull” their first full length EP, produced by Grammy-winner Matt Hyde (No Doubt, Jonny Lang), Receiving high acclaim for their performances and recordings alike, Tangent Transmission was honored with the Artist of the Year award in the All Indie Magazine music awards. All Indie’s radio host Mikeyy Jayy described Tangent Transmission as giving “a whole new definition to the meaning of rock music. Perhaps it should be called tangent rock, because they do not intersect with any other sound except with their own.” Inflating in popularity, TT has had song placements in the documentary h2indo as well as one episode of NCIS: Los Angeles.
The tangent rock sounds a little bit like a lot of things. Drawing from groups like The Mars Volta, Muse, Rage Against the Machine, and Incubus, their heavy guitar riffs, tight and blasting rhythms, soaring vocal lines, and shambolic emotions bring an electrifying performance to stages and speakers everywhere. Operating at full capacity to deliver any audience to a new tangent of what they believed rock music to be, Tangent Transmission is constantly working to further their musical horizons.
Band Interests:
Music, The “Banana of Spirituality”, Board Sports, And of course… Exploring!
Artists they also like:
Vas Defrans, Givers and Takers, DJ Freeman, Young Rapscallions, Jonny Lang, Tool, RX Bandits.
Tangent Transmission – Official Site
Tangent Transmission – Official YouTube Channel
Tangent Transmission @ Facebook
Tangent Transmission @ SoundCloud
Tangent Transmission @ MySpace
