Buses and Trains

My Thursday (and hopefully yours) just got a whole lot better. Abandoning my previous plans to write about some lackluster album today, I'm instead more than pleased to bring you a brand new song from Autolux. Some of you may have let you a collective "Huh?" in reaction to that, not even aware there was a band called Autolux. They're a band from L.A. that has a dark and distinctive shoegaze sound that takes cues from uber-cool bands like My Bloody Valentine and Sonic Youth in their heydays. And Autolux is uber-cool as well. Their official debut album, 2004's "Future Perfect," actually was my absolute, 100% favorite record of that year and remains in constant rotation among my CD collection. The obtuse and mind-numbing lyrics, combined with the wild guitars of former Failure member Greg Edwards and Carla Azar's masterful drum work that's eerily reminiscent of Can make that last Autolux album about as perfect as you can get. That's not to put aside the creepily great vocal work of Eugene Goreshter and Carla Azar who only further the band's distinctive sound.

Now then, it seems Autolux is label-less at the moment, but after an endless amount of touring surrounding that last album, they've gone ahead and spent quite a bit of time perfecting a follow-up. That album, titled "Transit Transit," is at an estimated summer release once a label deal gets secured, which should be very soon. Since we've been so long without hearing new Autolux material (their guest spot on the last UNKLE album was probably the biggest highlight, and the first glance at something new since '04), the band has been kind enough to post a new song up on their Myspace page. It's also available on iTunes for purchase. All in preparation for that new album, which promises to be another dark and sonically pleasing adventure.

So here's the song "Audience No. 2" for your listening pleasure. My initial thoughts are that it's a pretty good song that's distinctive in only the way that Autolux can do. You recognize the drumming immediately, along with Eugene's vocals. Greg's guitar work seems to be held back a little here, but that's more for the sake of atmosphere than just letting him go nuts for the sake of going nuts. The song is tempered and fascinating, and I can't help but wonder what the rest of the album is going to sound like. Not much of a mix up in styles here, but if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I'm not expecting another "best of the year" award for Autolux, but I will hold out hope that "Transit Transit" will be one of 2008's best.

Autolux- Audience No. 2

Buy "Future Perfect" from Amazon

Labels: autolux