Source Tags and Codes
Interscope
2.5 EYES
It's looking like the pre-release hoopla on these guys was based more on the fact that a major label would bankroll a band called "...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead" and not on the fact that too many people, like, gave a shit about the band (we'll call them Trail of Dead from here, just to stave off carpal tunnel that much longer). First of all, I wouldn't be a bitchy and anal rock critic with an axe to grind if I didn't point out that Michigan's Wig made this record years ago, did a better and more focused job of it, called it Wireland and got drop-kicked to oblivion for their troubles. There, I said it. On with the review...
Trail of Dead is mucking about in the same sonic la-la land as Built To Spill, though they take different routes to get there, TOD's clattery, multilayered, string-section-begooped pop anthems as sonically huge as BTS's guitar orchestras. Hints of DC post-rock, Touch & Go blue-collar punk rock ("Homage," "Days of Being Wild"), and even maudlin Doors-y (well, Screaming Trees-y, same thing) balladry ("Monsoon") surface in the chaotic mix and then sink again, making for a record that sounds spot-welded together from different sessions with different budgets, coming back to that big chimy anthem sound ("It Was There That I Saw You," "How Near, How Far") as the closest thing we get to a unifying theme.
It's definitely a decent record, and I bet if I had to pick four other albums on Interscope this year that didn't suck dog balls, I'd have a hard time of it... but Source Tags and Codes just seems a little too unfocused, a little bit too slack, like trimming down the songs and cleaning them up a little would spoil the punchline of the hip-o indie rock joke I'm not getting. It's got all the markings of a "grower" record, though, so I'm gonna give it the benefit of the doubt, curve that rating up a little bit, and keep it in the disc changer a while. Right now, it's not kicking my ass around the room or anything, but it's earned a grudging respect, and any minute now, the light bulb might go off over my head and it'll become my favorite record of all time ever ever. Check back with me in three months. Rockcrit note #2: strings arranged by John Painter, also of the delectable semi-Christian pop group Fleming and John. Yeah, I'm a damn nerd, you don't have to tell me. (Keith Bergman)
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