Shifting gears away from the alt-country for a while (a much needed move for freshening my ears), I spent a few days listening to Tangent's four-song, self-titled ep. What I thought might be a vanity record from yet another hard-rock band who claims to have a 'groove unmatched in the local music scene' actually turned out to have some meat on it. It never pays to pre-judge a record, no matter what I think I know. Click "Read More" for the review and sound samples. - MitchCD: Tangent (four song ep)
Recorded at: Groove Studio, Roseville, MI
Engineer: Chuck Pope
Musicians: Walter Filiapak (guitars); Nathan Konopka (vocals, keys, guitar); Brian McIntosh (drums); Pete Constantino (bass)
I nearly passed-off this CD as another basement-metal vanity project due to one of the ever-popular dictionary-style descriptions on the inner sleeve:
'(tan'gent) 1. Meeting a curve or surface in a single point if a sufficiently small interval is considered. 2. Diverging from an original purpose or course. 3.Creating a sound and groove unmatched in the local music scene.'
'Unmatched in the local music scene. . . ' This kind of tiresome platitude is like claiming your band is, "Detroit's best.." whatever. It's nearly always a tip-off that the music inside will be equally banal. But I was surprised by the inaccuracy of my preconception when it came to Tangent's self-titled, four-song ep. Given time and attention, the hooks stuck.
While the music does include, in my opinion, some hard-rock cliche's (e.g. whispered back-ups (track 1), over-the-counter flanging (track 3), an arpeggiated piano intro and a spoken-word melodrama (track 4) ), Tangent puts these hard-rock staples to their best use and, at worst, take me back to a more innocent time in hard rock. It's comforting and probably necessary for a new generation to hear what my age-group has long since abandoned.
There's also something compelling about the desperation in vocalist Nathan Konopka's voice (especially in the first two tracks) that reminds me of Kurt Cobain's tragic sincerity. The more I listen, the more I want to turn it up and shake the ghost of my long hair in sympathetic vibration. Despite any of my nit-picking, parts of all four songs stuck to my ears like congealed oatmeal for the better part of a week. I'm particularly fond of the over-driven bass and compressurized guitar (if you will allow me the description) of "Pseudo Contrition". Potent stuff.
1. Family Tree - Definitely get the desperate Nirvana quality on this track about familial role expectations and backlash. Konopka's voice is as off-beat and desperate as Cobain's scratchy growl (think of Curt with a head-cold). Tasty octaver lead and a good song to boot.
2. Pseudo Contrition - I can understand the comparisons to Tool when I hear this track. It has that dark, gothic quality about it that reminds me of old classical English rock groups such as Genesis or King Crimson. But I really dig the over-driven bass and sinewy guitar work on this track. An old-school, hard-rock gem.
3. For Not - The chord progression, rhythm, and dressing on this track feel a bit immature and overplayed at first (particularly McIntosh's busy drum work and the guitar hammer-ons during the verse) but somehow these techniques seem appropriate for Tangent's music. The performances on this track, while busy, are passionate and dead-on.
4. Lead Me On - Again, the arpeggiated piano intro and ending monologue seem a cliche' at this stage in pop-music evolution, but a very well-written chorus and a passionate performance makes me nostalgic for the power-ballads of my own long-haired youth.
In all, four well-written and well performed songs with musical arrangements that sound like a retrospective of common practices and techniques in the hard-rock genre. They may include typical techniques, but this CD was a pleasant divergence from my usual fare- a necessary tangent, if you will. -Mitch