Tempo No Tempo - "Waking Heat" LP (clear vinyl) - self-released
Listen to/download some Tempo No Tempo songs HERE
Occasionally — OK, all the effin’ time — I get a record in the mail and ignore it. There are many reasons for this.
Sometimes the packaging just screams, “This is horrible, don’t even listen to it.” I always give a listen, but packaging is important (as Dating in the Dark fanatics know maybe a little too well) and I’d be lying if it weren’t a deterrent, especially considering the volume of mail we get here at Gumshoe Grove HQ.
Sometimes the music, well, sucks balls; plain and simple. Zen Gorilla, Ninja Gun, Mark Mallman, solo albums by members of NRBQ … yep, over the years I’ve ignored y’all because I’m Just Not That Into You.
Still other times, I pass an album over for absolutely no reason at all, seemingly, in a way, to subconsciously prove I have the chutzpah to ignore a record by no fault of the artists themselves. Or at least that might be what a psychiatrist would say …
In the case of Tempo No Tempo, I’m not really sure what happened; honestly (same with you, Needy Visions; I’ll be getting to you soon, too). They sent a nice, shiny, clear-colored LP and I promptly chose to bury it in the stacks of vinyl I’ve either been sent or purchased myself (yes, I buy records; in fact I go broke buying records, so if you ever hesitate to send me your LP because you think I don’t ever buy anything for myself, using my music writing to get free shit, well, you’re wrong. And maybe a bit right. But mostly wrong. BROKE, people.).
Now, having resurrected TNT’s Waking Heat from its not-so-shallow grave, I’m realizing I erred on this one, perhaps because I felt, at the time it was sent, that it didn’t represent where my listening habits were going at the time. It’s all too complicated to explain so I’ll just get into the actual, written review I was intending to bestow upon this full-length.
Tempo No Tempo possess a sound that, if you were to describe its attributes to me aloud without my having heard it, I would probably balk, scratch myself and walk away. When stitched together in patchwork pieces, however, the TNT mantra is not a bad one at all, though I still find it just a tad uncomfortable to sink into simply because of what I mentioned above: Their rockist tendencies are so far from the scope of what I’ve been digging over the last few years.
Here are some hallmarks:
- The vocals, as much as I’m sure the trio of Kaiser/McCauley/Wexler will hate me for saying this, are fiercely redolent of Benjamin Gibbard from Death Cab For Cutie. I mean, this is almost a double-take situation at times, especially on Side A. I’m not suggesting Tempo No Tempo’s singer can do anything about it, either; I’m also not saying it’s a displeasing thing, as I’m a closet DCFC fan from way back when (though that sharply declined as they began their inevitable slide into major-label confusion over the reason we all paid attention in the first place). Just, you know, be forewarned.
- Instrumentation-wise, TNT crack their coachwhips with a lot of ZEST. Very ambitious arrangements ranging from the straight-line approach over a 4/4 bass-drum beat to slightly math-y-er fare that tends to resolve itself, in the end, in rather funky fashion. That’s mainly the bass guitarist’s doing though — the guitars are always flush with color, poignant and busy as all hell. If the singer’s barkin’ his vox while playing these compositions at the same time, well, props deserved (and given).
- I don’t really have a third bullet-point to share with you, I just think it looks dumb to only have two, so I added one! GUH
