Tagging Satellites - Abstract Confession
(Magwheel)
A couple of issues ago I reviewed Tagging Satelites' first album Shooting
Down the Airwaves. It sure was a super review. I don't mean it was good
like positive in favor of the band (although I think it was fairly
positive, really), I mean it was just really well written and concise and
really summed up the group perfectly, I thought. Even though it told
you a lot about the band, it told you just as much about me, and how smart
I am, and how good I am at my chosen profession, music journalism. After
I wrote it, guys were all patting me on the back and saying "good job,
Ned," all over the place. In case you missed it, here it is again:
Tagging Satellites appear to be polite young electro-style-punks...Their
music is nice, laid back, they don't seem too mad or upset about anything,
or if they are, they are at least being elegant and well-mannered about
it. Their recording features some VERY low pitched, often repetitive dubby
bass, and a combination of a few other electronic and "real" instruments.
Their music is dark, sparse, and stylish, with both male and female vocal
parts primarily delivered in whispers. Nice, slow, pseudo-semi-electronica
that won't bug you too much.
I cut a little bit out. If you want to read the whole thing, feel free to
use fakejazz's convenient search feature!
Now that you know exactly precisely what Tagging Satellites first album
sounded like, we can compare and contrast it with their new one Abstract
Confessions. It's really not that much different from the first. It
seems like the feminine band member (She goes by the name Zera Marvel.
I've seen some photos of her, and she dresses really modern.) does most of
the vocalizing now. I think that's a good move. She has a nice voice.
Furthermore, Abstract Confessions seems to be a bit more "edgy" than the
first one, with more rock, less drone. I think more guitar. The first
album didn't completely lack roughness, but this one is definitely coarser
and spittier without completely sacrificing the late at night feeling. I
think if this had to sound like a cross between two well known groups,
those groups might be Portishead and early Girls Against Boys. Which
seems like it should be a really good thing.
But where Tagging Satellites continue to fail for me, Ned (I am not a cool
guy, when I was young and at my peak of coolness I was what used to be
called a nerd), is in their total coolness. Their music is just too cool.
Brainiac for example... Brainiac was a band that was so cool and stylish
that you just couldn't take them seriously even if they wanted you to.
Luckily they didn't want that. They knew they were just for fun.
Tagging Satellites' music on the other hand, seems to have the emotional
and intellectual coldness of a band like Brainiac, but they aren't
particularly fun, either. So what about their music is going to beckon me
back? I don't know. That's why I have to sum up the new release the same
half-hearted way I did the last: it won't bug you too much.
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