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SCHOLARS AND ROGUES
Best CD's of 2010 - January 2011
Samuel Smith
Dark Matter
scholarsandrogues.com
The
best CDs of 2011, pt. 2: Platinum LPs
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The Lost Patrol - Rocket Surgery
This isn’t the first time The Lost Patrol has made an appearance
in my year-end Best of list – in fact, it’s becoming something
of a habit. Which is a little odd when you consider the challenges facing
artists trading in narrowly defined styles. TLP is known for an ethereal,
twangy spaghetti Western sound that invokes the likes of Duane Eddy, Enrico
Morricone and Angelo Badalamenti. TLP provides soundtracks for cinematic,
empty badland vistas at dusk, and it’s an oeuvre that’s not
quite like any other artist I know of. One would think such a tightly
defined sound would be inherently limiting and that after awhile it would
all sound the same. Unlike the average indie band, there’s no way
of veering off into something a little different without it jarring the
expectations of the listener. If a Ben Gibbard wants to experiment a bit,
the reaction is “hey, Death Cab is being experimental.” If
TLP tries something off their established brand, the reaction is going
to be “hey, where did TLP go?” It’s a whole other dimension
of challenge than most bands face.
Somehow or another, though, The Lost Patrol has managed to remain
who they are while finding interesting ways of growing and expanding.
It’s hard to fully credit the enduring creative and technical genius
of founder Stephen Masucci, and Michael Williams, who’s primarily
the rhythm guitarist, shoulders a lot of responsibility in the way role-players
always do in successful bands (I imagine this is especially true live
because they seem not to travel with a rhythm section. Not that I’ve
ever gotten to see them live because they never stop in Denver. Hint,
hint)…
But a huge part of the reason for the artistic success of Dark
Matter arises from the emerging versatility and songwriting prowess
of Mollie Israel (whose mom is Amy Heckerling, by the way – I just
found that out). This is the band’s second disc with Mollie at the
mic and she has really made the gig her own – not bad, considering
the band looked as good as done when previous vocalist Danielle Kimak
Stauss departed after 2007's excellent Launch and Landing. It’s
unusual for a band to lose its defining singer and make a successful transition
to a new front, but TLP has done it, and spectacularly.
Dark Matter is seductive in ways that bypass the consciousness.
It’s intensely personal and shiveringly tactile, driven by Masucci’s
epic, otherworldly guitars and an emerging gift for storytelling (such
as we see in Israel’s “Justine,” my favorite track on
the disc; there’s a level of maturity here that we tend to encounter
only in artists who have been at it longer than Israel, who’s only
25. Oh, and sweet gods, the guitars – crank this track up to 11
and listen to what happens at the :53 mark).
Perhaps the thing that makes The Lost Patrol so vital is that
there is literally nobody else like them. Their music is a unique, evocative
experience that’s as sexy as it is starkly iconic.
Now they’re hard at work on what may well turn out to be
a 2011 release. That kind of energy is fantastic news for the band’s
fans.
[link]
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