Labels: Polyvinyl
Review by: Andy Malcolm
So, Mike Kinsella recorded with a rock band again, been a while I think. Yet this seems a rather retrograde step to me, given how long ago American Football was. As it sounds like the kind of band that someone would do before a band that sounds like American Football, rather than after.
TTT are twiddle merchants of the highest order. This record is super technical, all serious guitars and serious dudes. Music for people that actually play guitar, or people that are impressed by good guitar playing. That’s not me, either of those things. Mike’s vocals are great for the most part, but I am just longing for the people playing guitar to play a nice melody. There are parts when they do this, like late on in the title track, and these are really nice, it’s quite Braid-like and well judged. And “Fit Your Life Into A Grid” starts off pretty well too, it’s a much more straight-forward indie rock song, with a pretty cool Jawbox-y bit. But then they start fiddling around with their guitars again and lose me. I think this is the kind of music that a lot of serious dudes in their 20s will be very much into, but man, if you got too old to care or never cared at all about how well someone plays guitar you will probably find this a bit annoying. For what it is, it’s a perfectly good example of the genre, and I suppose that’s all a band in a tiny niche of a sprawling subculture can ever aspire to be.
p.s. that band name. good grief.