Technoir MA - 2/B (Feb 2, 2010)
Post-Punk/Alternative Dance/Live Electronics
Yesterday saw not only the official release date of Technoir MA's debut EP '2/B', but also its perfectly timed arrival in my letterbox, and by that time, unbeknownst to its creators, it had become a certainty for me to review. Justin Vassalo and Colin Green have featured before on my blog - i called them a band to watch in 2010 back in January - and i make no apologies for featuring them again in a very much positive light. Their brand of New Order meets tech-dance drum machine pop music has been captivating my recent listening to a stage high enough that i've been excitably jumping at every parcel waiting for this one to arrive in the last week or so, and here's why. Richly decadent lead guitar lines intertwine amongst themselves, subsiding only for short and euphoric sections of clear cut overdrive - which, all the time almost drowning out the distinctively New Order-style vocal sound in its entirety, make for 4 minute interludes of intense and euphoric guitar pop music. Heavily instrumental, the two musicians masterfully wind their full sounding melodies around each other, and let the Alesis SR-16 retro drum machine sit in the driving seat. Building to almost mechanical peaks, their awkward and colourful flamboyances excel through stunning guitar work into a four-track masterpiece of brilliantly and tactfully written alternative guitar music. Technoir MA are nothing short of a thrilling new pop duo from Massachussetts who wear their Joy Division and New Order influence on their sleeve (they even name their tracks in exactly the same style, rarely using more than one word in their song names), and with a clear enthusiasm for high octane pop music this hard-hitting, its difficult to blame them. Return however is a melancholy and drooping shoegaze anthem with the awkward vocal styles of Ian Curtis and controlled background overdrive of his more downbeat punk contemporaries. Use Of Force is a nine minute outro to the EP which at first swaps the guitars for airy synthesized swirls before developing into a crunchy and upbeat, if slightly erratic, ending song to 2/B. The length and accomplishment of the ender matures the album from the two opening tracks of the four, which seem to portray a much younger band obsessed with floor filling drum beats and shiny leading melodies. 2/B is a short EP at 22 minutes, and definitely starts off better than it finishes, but as long as the band continue churn out music with enough of a new angle on what has gone before it, they shouldn't have a problem in building up some serious industry consideration in the coming months.
7.5/10
Technoir MA - Sparks (MP3)Technoir MA - Return (MP3)
buy the album direct from the band
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