I've seen references to Swirlies when discussing the new Hotline TNT record. And I get that. However, I'd stress that the compositions on Cartwheel, while noisy, are more sharply focused than some of those on Blondertongueaudiobaton, a record I still love. I practically memorized that album considering how much I played it the summer/fall after I graduated college. And I think folks may do the same with the exemplary Cartwheel when it drops on Third Man Records this Friday.
The rush of "I Thought You'd Change" is tempered by the woozy appeal of "Beauty Filter", a track which nods in the direction of Sonic Youth's middle years. That said, this material stands on its own. Folks are getting worked up because "Shoegaze!", but the tunes and hooks here are what will grab listeners. Will Anderson sings this stuff like he's fronting Pavement, like on "History Channel", or The Replacements, like on "I Know You", even as the music churns on each like a hurricane around him. The effect is a delightful one as you can hear a bunch of your favorite things being referenced at once. And I think that's the secret to the greatness of Hotline TNT at this moment in time.
Like Horsegirl not so long ago, the buzz around this band is reaching a pitch, but it's also warranted. There's a freshness here I've not heard from a lot of other bands who have reached for the same effects pedals. Cartwheel succeeds not because it's noisy but because, like records by Swirlies and My Bloody Valentine before it, there are lots of hooks and melodies here. And no amount of feedback is going to drown those out entirely. Hotline TNT have crafted concise slabs of indie-rock here, and the whole album just serves up a kind of greatest hits of most of what I played constantly in college and after. Call them revivalists if you want, but Hotline TNT are more concerned with conjuring up their own sound, even if Cartwheel depends a bit obviously on past legends' best stuff.
Cartwheel by Hotline TNT is out on Friday via Third Man Records.
[Photo: Wes Knoll]