My LA Times feature on Autolux came out one month after it was supposed to, and wound up online-only rather than print. I’m writing about it three days after I’d planned to, and doubt it will be linked, commented upon, or read beyond the four barnacled and bescarfed Silverlakians who read this blog and dig the band. May your beards be refulgent, sirs.
This outcome is consistent with a crew who took six years to finish their sophomore effort Transit Transit, and largely lost the locomotion they’d gathered in 2004, when they were the first local outfit to escape the dance-punk albatross of Aoki. Accuse this of being bluster and I will point you to thid Pitchfork review, that does everything but accuse Dim Mak of replacing Owens Valley water with Red Bull and Vodka.
In the indieocracy of 2010, Ima Robot have become Edward Sharpe & The Infant Sorrow and they make the Intelligentsia set weep into their six dollar mochas. The Silversun Pickups are getting that Billy Corgan money and everyone can agree on the Local Natives. As for Autolux, they turned in something too similar to their first album to elicit noise. They don’t have a Twitter, a Tumblr– by any blog buzz metric they are doomed. I suspect they don’t care and that’s for the best. Those who believed in FuturePerfect will probably dig the visions glimpsed when Jordan Catalano look-a-like Greg Edwards disappeared into the studio to loop dig like he was signed to Stones Throw.
Transit Transit is a good album dismissed for not being a great one. When you take over a half decade to deliver, people expect revolutions not minor renovations. The article weaves the tale of a group that started out getting compared to Sonic Youth, Blonde Redhead and My Bloody Valentine, and still do. No strange twists, but there are bad metaphors, the sounds of freezer doors from Copenhagen farmhouses, and T-Bone Burnett. If you disapprove, there is always hippie rehash or witch house to worship.–Weiss
Download:
MP3: Autolux-”Supertoys”
MP3: Autolux-”Audience No. 2″
From Future Perfect
MP3: Autolux-”Turnstile Blues”
2 comments
Valentine says:
September 22, 2010 at 5:05 pm (UTC -7)
I read your article for the LA times [I'm one of the few/many non Silverlake nerds who appreciates your writing], bought tickets for the “homecoming” show at the El Rey (didn’t feel like driving “home” and seeing them in my native Pomona’s Fox Theater), enjoyed every minute of my Acid induced experience, and have had the opportunity to speak with Eugene in person at a random Eastside bar the day before the album came out.
I’m happy with and for Autolux. They might have burned off, or simply lost, some of the steam they garnered from the release of Future Perfect – but at least there is a new release [ahem - Jay Electronica]. Although the new record took time, it feels as if the years that have passed were used to improve upon a strong foundation to find something new for themselves. It’s inarguably good album, as well as a nice building block for the group’s next step.
The show at the El Rey made sense. The loops were abundant, and a desire to improve amongst one another felt real. Maybe it was the Acid, but I sincerely doubt it.
There is the Westside hippie rehash that’s 5 years too late, and witch house with extremely lackluster live performances to worship [pointing my twitchy long finger directly at SALEM], but let’s see where that sits in 6 years. Who knows, maybe Mr. Ebert might take off and hit the stars with a quasi John Lennon/George Harrison smash hit and strive for longevity rather than what’s hot for Angelenos and other cattle who simply can’t read b/t the lines. AND maybe SALEM will break away from their DGAF attitude, spend time crafting a sound that’s more than hot for a moment, and become the next Daft Punk/DEADMAUS electronic superhouse traveling the world for sold out pandemoniums of Codeine influenced superstardom – even work with Weezy F Baby upon his release!
I’ll stop with the jabs, try to be nice and give it 6 years. However, unlike waiting for Autolux [and Jay Electronica] I know I’m waiting in vain.
Passion of the Weiss says:
September 22, 2010 at 5:16 pm (UTC -7)
This might be the comment of the year. It would be the comment of the decade if it instructed me how to procure acid.