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Pedal Steel
Transmission: The Angel of the Squared Circle
The third release from this Chicago-based band shows tons of promise. Its filled with slightly quirky indie-rock/alt-country songs that are poppy enough to draw your attention but not so much that they insult your intelligence. With The Angel of the Squared Circle, Pedal Steel Transmission has crafted an exceptional disc. The songs range from raucous feedback workouts (the opening track Waiting starts with a classical feel, then turns into a gypsy type song, only to end with crunchy guitar and scratchy vocals) to plaintive acoustic based tracks (my personal favorite is the second track, Amy, which ends with the lines Why Am I/Why Am I/Im fucked Up To) while never losing the dense feel of the album. The vocals, presumably by songwriters Dan Schneider and Gary Pyskacek, at times sound like the Flaming Lips, Mark Kozelek of the Red House Painters, and the bizarre combination of Greg Dulli (from the Afghan Whigs) and Lou Reed. Although they can easily be lumped in with the alt-country crowd, the songs have more going for them than most of whats usually placed in that genre, and have already moved past these early influences and into newer territory. The songs sound like they were pretty much recorded live, and theres an urgency to the performances that would be lacking in a meticulously over-dubbed recording. There are odd mistakes here and there a voice cracks, a finger just misses a note, etc. but it all adds to the human feel of the album. This is a good enough group of musicians to know that mistakes can often enhance a song. There isnt much in the way of credits in the liner notes, so it is uncertain who does what in the band but whoever it is, they do it pretty well. The record was produced by the band and is pretty free of the usual problems that come with self-production. They obviously knew what they wanted to end up with on this record, and how to get the desired results. For fans of well-done introspective rock music, this album is definitely for you its even got enough bite for indie rockers and enough wussy-ness for the emo kids.
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