When singer/composer Michael
Bond and guitarist Matt Dennewitz relocated from Cincinnati (where Bond
helped helm the still-in-operations datawaslost collective/label) to
Chicago a few years back, the Indie music world was just beginning to
show more of a whole-hearted interest in danceable, electronic sounds.
It was perfect timing for the admittedly more adventurous and noisy duo
– perhaps best described as Indie Dance Punk — which has seen many of
its releases fervently frothed over by the tastemakers of the music
blogosphere. In fact, when the group’s full-length, Songs About Music,
came out in 2007, it was ranked alongside some of Indie’s heaviest
hitters as one of the most written-about new releases of its time. And
the reviews were almost universally positive.
With the label established, the duo has been more likely to release a
single, a “split” CD with another artist or an EP than they are to
release a full album (Songs About Music was their first official
long-player).
But Coltrane Motion works well as a “singles” band, as
evidenced by their latest, the two-song single, “The Year Without a
Summer” b/w “Maya Blue.” Running their own show means the band can pop
out a quick release and then spend a few months touring it before going
back to the drawing board. It also allows the band to be creative with
the releases — the new single is on colored vinyl with silk-screened
sleeves, while the Rhode Island-based label 75 or Less Records issued a
CD version with bonus remixes by Cincinnati artists You, You’re Awesome
and Jay Reynolds (as Superaction80). They’ve also found time record a
few Bruce Springsteen covers that sound like what a young New Order
might have done with some Boss tunes (give ‘em a listen at
myspace.com/motion).
“The Year Without a Summer” is fairly classic Coltrane Motion, with a
dissonant mix of Dennewitz’s creative guitar, churning organ/synths and
epileptically propulsive beats. Bond’s nasal, distorted voice is an
acquired taste, but within the lo-fi bombast of songs like “Summer,”
it’s hard to imagine any other vocalist being nearly as fitting. Side
B’s “Maya Blue” is a hypnotic blend of organ drone and faint and hazy
melodies, like early Dandy Warhols with the energy levels pushing the
needle into the red.
The group’s live show is highly recommended, as Bond and Dennewitz make like a sonic Tasmanian Devil whenever they take over a stage. You’ll sweat or be sweated on. And you’ll like it.
(Buy tickets, check out performance times and find nearby bars and restaurants here.)
