This is the album you always knew Trans Am could make. However, you always wished they'd never actually go ahead and make it. Dripping wet with the goop of the 1980s and dressed in boy band gear (literally), Trans Am has made their own Ultimate New Wave Dance Party, taking "the joke" to not just the next level but to a level so far out no one thought it was possible to get there.
If the unbuttoned shirts and white top hats didn't make the point of the album clear before opening the CD, the lyrics to "Party Station" certainly drive that point home.
The Party Station has arrived, so get on board go for a ride.
As the groove chugs, the crowd "woo woo"s, and the MC chants "party," (and you find yourself enjoying it,) you realize that this is not just a dumbed down party version of Trans Am, but rather the culmination of the Trans Am experience. This is all the pieces of the Trans Am puzzle, scattered about through five years of albums, finally placed together on the same canvas. It is the album you always knew they could make... the band using all their capabilities in order to make the ultimate party album and completely play the part of a "party band."
Once you scratch below that glossy, made-up surface, what is underneath has much in common with the original Trans Am, the Trans Am that loved Van Halen and AC/DC but, through a few lame Casio beats, discovered a whole other sound. The guitars blaze through "Positive People" just as they blazed through "Rough Justice." Compare "Different Kind of Love" with its flute-like keyboard bridge to the snake-charmer keyboard of "Koln"/"Cologne"; although the drums have gotten a lot more precise and mechanical, the songs are still rather similar. The only main difference in TA is the tongue-in-cheek posturing. Trans Am always created party music, however through the limitations of other people's expectations, their music always stayed within the Thrill Jockey realm. With TA, all inhibitions are lost.
As a result, TA is the indie rock party record to end all indie rock party records. In some respect, Surrender to the Night tried to be the end-all-be-all party record, considering the whole album is about a night of partying, so TA should come as no surprise. However, TA is so tongue-in-cheek and so over-the-top that if you do not actually find yourself in the middle of a party when listening to it, it can be hard to stomach. Perhaps that means Trans Am achieved exactly what they wanted to achieve.
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