Customer Reviews

Transit Transit

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Consider this a preemptive strike against the inevitable backlash of the usual complaints: they've been working on this for six years (not the case. They spent much of that time deciding how to release the album), it doesn't sound exactly like Future Perfect. While the second may hold some accuracy, it ignores the exciting leaps forward that Autolux have taken with their sound.

What's new is a significant amount of sparse moments, space unfilled, perhaps you could call it a greater "Radiohead-esqueness," through the use of piano and electronic beats. If the entire album sounded like this, I could understand the complaints, but there are plenty of moments of the old noisy rock-out Autolux as well.

Perhaps the new elements stand out so much, they are off-putting to listeners that wanted Future Perfect part 2. Give these tracks a chance and they will end up being highlights. SPOTS is a haunting, beautiful song, and an incredible improvement on the melancholy of GREAT DAYS FOR THE PASSENGER ELEMENT. THE BOUNCING WALL is a great nod to `60s flavored psychedelic pop. Fans of the British band Broadcast will take note. HIGHCHAIR is built around a hypnotic beat that comprises of electronic and live percussion.

Meanwhile, Autolux continues to combine perfect pop catchiness and propulsive interstellar rock on songs like CENSUS, SUPERTOYS and KISSPROOF. There are wonderful touches, like the spacey effects that come in towards the end of CENSUS and the toy piano that rings out in this midst of the dirge-heavy HEADLESS SKY. The album's beautifully swirling closer, THE SCIENCE OF IMAGINARY SOLUTIONS, is punctuated by jarring blasts of noise at the minute and a half mark, and then it lifts upwards carrying the listener out on a more skyward note than on Future Perfect.

A track by track comparison of two such remarkable albums seems irrelevant, but it is worth noting that everything on Transit Transit is more interesting than ROBOTS IN THE GARDEN and ASLEEP AT THE TRIGGER from the first album. Every new track is multifaceted and is masterfully crafted from a range of ideas.

So, put aside what you were expecting to hear, and embrace this exciting step forward by one of the most interesting bands out there.

The new release by Autolux overall carries on brilliant work set out by "Future Perfect" six years ago...

While the noise and hard charging attitude seems to have mellowed somewhat, the trio seems to have honed their songwriting abilities and appear to have become better musicians in the interim. This represents somewhat of a departure from Autolux's prior work, but while it it is a move away from tonal discordance, this sounds more refined, mature and remains Autolux.

This would be a great debut album for any band and remains a wonderful new step in the evolution of Autolux.

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On their first album in six years, Autolux enhances the experimental sounds they forged on 2004's Future Present. Tracks like Audience No. 2 bring are a real sensory overload, packing the mix with distortion and effects. But the album has a few severe potholes that leave me underwhelmed. Whether it's looping instrumentation or a lack of interesting sounds, some tracks just leave me cold and uninterested. It's nice if you're looking for a friendlier face in this style of music, but I'd rather hear the dangerous side I've come to appreciate from Autolux.

6/10

After hearing Audience No.2 what seems like forever ago, I thought, "Great song, but I hope the new album isn't too similar to Future Perfect." Not that I have any problems with Future Perfect, it's one of my all time favs. After finishing the opening track, I knew I was in for something very different, and very special. Audience No.2 is the only track on this album that sounds like it could've been on Future Perfect, yet manages to fit itself perfectly into this album.

If you wanted Autolux to stick to the same exact sound from their previous record, please don't be that way. They are truly one of the great bands of today, and their sound is sure to go through many evolutions. Transit Transit proves that. I have only listened to the album through four times so far, and each time I find it more and more beautiful and entrancing. While it isn't nearly as heavy as Future Perfect, it is much more layered, complex, and emotional. Where Future Perfect made me want to jump around the room, Transit Transit relaxes me. I find myself at multiple points closing my eyes, allowing the soothing musical brilliance to give me the chills I've so been longing for from this fantastic band.

If you love Autolux as much as I do, I can't imagine you being disappointed with this release. I so stupidly felt somewhat frustrated with the amount of time it was taking for this album to come out. Now that I have it, it was so worth the wait. Shame on me. Do yourself a favor and enjoy one of the most amazing bands of our time. If you are new to Autolux, I would recommend familiarizing yourself with Future Perfect first, so you can truly appreciate how musicians can grow and work so well together. I'm looking forward to many more listens of Transit Transit, which I regard as another true masterpiece.

bought this one for my pops for xmas. don't know if he liked it, but i sure as hell do.

Short and Simple
I took the time to listen and became very entertained. The album is a dynamic
collaboration of trippy sixties, alternative and modern rock. I was very impressed.
I can actually listen to every trek instead of skipping.
You don't know what to expect because it's innovative and classic alternative at the same time. I listened to samples of the first album and will purchase soon.
Excellent percussionist.

Very rarely does a band come along and, for the most part, create its own sound. Autolux is one of those gems. Even though the world has had to wait a long time for their second proper album to be released, it is worth every delicious second now that it has arrived.

The nuances of this music grow with each listen and it's clear the time spent making it was not wasted. It's a great rock record with a soft sheen coating the surface.

Because of the rarity of his released work, guitarist/vocalist Greg Edwards doesn't get the acclaim that his former band-mate in Failure, Ken Andrews, receives. It's clear from repeated listens to "Transit Transit" that it's a shame their partnership didn't last longer than it did. This is brilliance.

I've read most of the reviews out there regarding this record. So be it. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but it's up to you to look past genre-specific terms or the newly branded piece of popular consumption ready to be spit out at the end of the meal. TRANSIT TRANSIT is a move for Autolux away from the monochromatic nature (see Audience No. 2 for reference to that on this record) and simplicity of Future Perfect to describe different emotions, a great record nonetheless, and instead this is a move to radicalize their color palette sonically and emotionally to expand on topics of isolation, loneliness, and beauty (at least that's what i get from it).

This record encompasses the true influences of Autolux over the past 6 years, yet it didn't take 6 years to complete. This is the product of years of record company turmoil, sound experiments with what I can only imagine to be walls of effects pedals, and the result is 3 artists/musicians pushing themselves sonically and as song-writers. The opening song (which was also one of the last to be recorded) is built from field recordings, a worn out piano that could only play a few keys well, and Greg Edwards detached vocals "eyes like vinyl, lips like rainclouds, let the future go." That's the introduction to the record. Let go of the strictly Sonic Youth and my bloody valentine references, this band is much more than abrasive noise and expensive effects. Second track "Census" built around Greg's SYR-esque guitar riff reminds listeners that they can still punch you in the face. Eugene sings "It's everything you thought that you'd like, just to wake strangled stars and stripes. You're a paper head on a backbone on fire, always asleep but never tired." Track 3 "high chair" with it's repetitive drum machine pattern speeding up as the song moves along, with tom splashes by Carla Azar, and Greg's voice soaked in reverb is 1st track that makes the casual Autolux fan or listener think "what is going on here?" Greg sings "raise you glass up to the wall, put your ear to what you've lost, let the silence strangle you."

"Spots" is simply a gorgeous track with Greg doing his best quasi-Neil Young impersonation and is probably the track most people are simply puzzled by on this. "Autolux put a piano ballad on their record? what?" I agree with the previous assessments that "Bouncing wall" is a broadcast-esque throw back to 60's psych pop built around another odd Greg Edwards effects loop and what sounds like a Moog Bass Murf sound. "Headless Sky" is built around a repetitive guitar chord splashed with Eugene's distorted and whammy'ed bass lines. Eugene sings "now you get, what you wanted. just to be, all alone. like a breeze inside a stone." Closer "Science of Imaginary Solutions" may be one the best overall songs Autolux has ever written. It combines all of the elements that make this band so great: repetition, drum patterns, abrasiveness, noise, melody, and a delicate thread throughout the entire piece. Carla sings "high as the moon, deep as the ocean. fall apart the pieces hit the ground. I pick up all your inventions. But your science keeps you from bein' sound." Enough said. I like this band. I like this record. Go see them live, they are simply amazing. Take care.

Autolux have kept everyone waiting some time for this new release, but, ultimately, the wait was certainly worth it. One thing that can be said of this album is that it is much more subtle in effect than their last release. I wouldn't say that I like this album more than Future Perfect, but it has gradually grown on me since I purchased it, while Future Perfect almost instantly became one of my favorite albums. One potential reason for this is that I foolishly began comparing it to Future Perfect the moment that I first listened to it. However, this is almost inevitable with a band who has released an album in the past for which one deeply cares. One reason that this album is much more subtle is due the fact that it has an overall more somber, ambient tone than their last release; the loud, distortion- heavy rockers are here to be sure, but they are balanced out by more mellow tracks. The concluding track, "The Science of Imaginary Solutions," is one of the most poignant, affecting songs I've heard in some time.

This band has frequently garnered comparisons to My Bloody Valentine, and that comparison is more apparent here than ever before. The band utilizes conventions from several indie/underground bands from the 80's and early 90's, just as they did before. I don't consider this a bad thing, as the band appropriates these sounds and makes something unique out of them. This allows the band to be quite distinguished from many of the other indie rock bands today. This album is highly recommended.

It is inevitable that after six years of waiting, expectations would be high for the follow-up to an album as brilliant and affecting as Future Perfect. The reality is that expectations are probably too high, which may have played a part in the massive delay on Transit Transit, which by all accounts was finished and in the can as early as 2008. If we go into this record thinking "This is the result of six years of work on distilling the sound that made Future Perfect genius," we're going to be disappointed. Transit Transit, more than its predecessor, is a pop album, much in the vein of the recent pop renaissance that has found bands from every genre of music infusing more pop into their work. Where Future Perfect was a true space rock gem, Transit Transit is less adventurous, more hook laden, and a little bit slowed by comparison, attributes that at times help and at other times hinder the overall appeal of the record. Transit Transit is signature Autolux and you would be unlikely to mistake it for the work of any other band, with all of the distinctive tones and textures in place, even if they have been applied in different ways. "Audience No. 2" is one of the few tracks to recall the heady rush of Future Perfect tracks like Subzero Fun, where most of the other songs on this record opt for a slow-burning build over a headlong rush into oblivion. This is not a record that is going to bring in new fans unless TBD really get their act together in promoting this thing, but it's a very good record and sure to please long, longtime fans of the band. Lets hope they don't take 6 years for the next one.