NOTHING IS COHESIVE
The New Album by Transcendence
The new CD from the chameleon-like rockers Transcendence is entitled Nothing is cohesive. A bold and beautiful collection of post-modern garage rockers and lush seventies-style piano ballads that the band recorded in their garage studio just may be their best effort to date. And that says a lot coming from this very prolific and experimental group that features the impassioned vocals of Ed Hale and the guitar histrionics of Fernando Perdomo. Nothing is cohesive, the band's third CD, is raw, unrefined, and surges with a musical sensuality that is breathtaking at times. It mixes a variety of classic and modern rock styles in a surprisingly cohesive listen for how far out the band was willing to travel in their sonic explorations to achieve something completely different from last years Sleep with you.
Standout tracks: Somebody kill the DJ, Tomorrow, All this is beginning to feel like an ending, Caetano.
Sounds like: Early seventies Bowie or Wings, Roxy Music, Bright eyes, Radiohead, White Stripes.
Nothing is cohesive , certainly the band's most critically acclaimed release so far , stands out for several reasons. The album was recorded in the band's garage by the band for no other reason than that they were between albums and wanted to make music together. They funded it, engineered it, and produced it themselves. You can hear the band's influences...
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Nothing Is Cohesive: Ed Hale, Fernando Perdomo, Roger Houdaille, Jon Rose, Bill Sommer, Ben Belin. Recorded at Perdomo Sound, Summer of 2003. Mastered by Fred Freeman.
Check Out: Rise and Shine, Sleep With You
New York's Transcendence has added a touch of class to their gritty rock 'n' roll. Their mix of sleaze with sophistication recalls Louis XIV or Jet with better tunes. Like a one-stop supermarket, Transcendence supplies the sauce for a bender, and the aspirin for the morning after.
-- Editors Review
A great album is like a great painting, a great wine, a great movie or a great kiss. It takes your breath away, tickles your senses, steals time and leaves you changed -- maybe sad, maybe smiling, anything but indifferent. Nothing Is Cohesive is a great album. It is also one of the most aptly titled discs to cross my desk in many a moon. If you're looking for 12 variations on the same basic theme, go buy a Nickelback album or something. This is art here, folks -- diverse, challenging, reckless, and brilliant.
So after that build-up, what does Transcendence -- Ed Hale (vocals, guitars, piano, keys), Fernando Perdomo (guitars, drums, vocals, sitar, keys), Roger Houdaille (bass, vocals, guitar), Jon Rose (piano, keys, vocals), Bill Sommer & Ben Belin (drums) – actually sound like? Imagine Keith Richards, Paul McCartney, Frank Zappa, Roger Waters, Jeff Tweedy (Wilco), Dan Wilson (Semisonic) and Bono partying all night and then cutting an album with Beatles producer George Martin manning the boards, and you might be in the neighborhood. It's an erratic, ecstatic kaleidoscope of tones, textures, voices and attitudes that takes all the right lessons from '70s rock and employs them with imagination and flair, and it adds up to utter shambling magnificence.
Indeed, Nothing Is Cohesive , but that's what makes it special. It's like an episode of Lost , where you think you finally know something, and then they find another way to turn your expectations inside out. It's musical anarchy, beautiful chaos. It's art. It's Transcendence. Do not miss it.
- Jason Warburg, www.dailyvault.com
So they certainly beat the sophomore jinx but can this third album continue their momentum?
Well that depends on what part of the album you listen. Scattered throughout the 15 songs there are moments of brilliance that have atmospheric guitar combining with devious and disfigured rhythms. Songs like “Somebody Kill the DJ,” “I Wanna Know You,” “Come On,” and “Revolution in Me” contort and gnarl your speakers with a wonderful post-punk pop sensibility. Then there are a couple of oddly placed but very strong Beatles-esque piano ballads as well and the title track which is a brilliantly timed and bewildering minimalist trance piece.
In between those songs is the rest of the CD. Now don't get me wrong, the rest of the CD is quite passable but that's what bothers me I think. In the midst of the brilliance that stutters on the title track or rages on a song like “Revolution in Me” the other songs seem to be almost deliberately watered down.
So will they continue their momentum? Yes. There is plenty to hear, for all parties involved and I could hear this album being received well in college dorms around the country. Besides that, its worth the price alone just for the seamless loop that bleeds from the title track (the last song) into the untitled first song and then into “Somebody Kill the DJ." Brilliant.
- Al Haroldson, Kynd Music
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-Not Lame Records
Transcendence - Nothing Is Cohesive
It is completely untrue that the only real transcendental track is the glammy album introduction. The rest is psychedelic garage rock that is every bit as close to Fischerspooner that you can get without being that great art rock outfit. Vocalist Ed Hale filters it all through his socially-conscious and cerebral lyrics. A track like “Somebody Kill the DJ” will get honorable mention as New Wave retro track of 2005 for sure, while “Caetano” is every bit as Radiohead as it gets. These guys sound like they pulled out some old Bowie tracks, did a bunch of drugs, and hit record, playing until the sun came up the next day. - Smother.net
-Lee Zimmerman, New Times Magazine, Brighten up the corners: Transcendence interview
- Jonathan Rosen, JLRADIO.COM
4 out of 5 stars ****
“Rock & roll from the Paris Hilton set out to lunch, out of time, and unconcerned about anything but their own vanity. It rocks like nothing else out there. Get it.”
ALL MUSIC GUIDE,
- Steve English, SPLENDID MAGAZINE
Emerging from the New York and Miami music scenes, Transcendence has made a noticeable mark at the 2004 CMJ Music Festival and the NEMO Music Festival in Boston last summer. Their anticipated third LP entitled Nothing is Cohesive comprises of psychedelic melodic pop tunes endowed with a 70’s glam rock vocal swagger by lead vocalist Ed Hale and embellished by lulling vocal harmonies from session songstress Karen Feldner.
The music is a combination of prismatic synth effects, roving 60’s style keyboards, and stirring chord movements that are clasped together by undulating intones from the drum and bass arrangements. At times the music reverberates like a collage of discordant notes and at others it resonates with the glossy texture of silken cadence.
The helmsman Ed Hale, whose vocal sensibilities are the driving force steering the flow and ebbs of the winding melodies, is joined by bandmates Ricardo Mazzi on drums, Fernando Perdomo on guitar, Allan Gabay on keyboards, and Roger Houdaille on bass. Many of the members are multi-dexterous, adept at playing several types of instruments including Perdomo who performed a mesmerizing upbeat string succession on the sitar for the song “Bored” and congealed the bubbling phonics of a moog to tweak the tune. Transcendence maintains a total sense of freedom in their song structures and may likely be the quintessential garage jamband playing notes when the vibe moves them.
There is an aura of 60’s musical influences imbedded into the songs rhythms overall from groups like The Mamas and The Papas (“California Dreamin’”), The Byrds (“Eight Miles High”) and The Animals (“O Lucky Man”). The lyrics also egress with a 60’s creative surge making open innuendoes from rock and roll lifestyle allusions, which at times are sung in Spanish or French as well as English. Hale’s lyrics in “Cleopatra Ecstasy” would rival those of The Doors lyricist the late Jim Morrison with verses like: I took Cleopatra for a ride/ Walking out of my car/ Rolling Cleopatra feels so alive/ After putting her down/ Cleopatra shines for me no more.
Although most of the lyrics and music are written by Hale and Transcendence respectively, they do a cover version of Linda and Paul McCartney’s ditty “Tomorrow,” which includes a whispering, mellow overture that mollifies the mood before moving the piece into a fuller sonorous. Hale’s bedroom eyes slant to the vocals gives the song a melodramatic pathos for the sonnet.
Hale’s raw lyrics meshed with Transcendence’s psychedelic pop melodies have made what was once old, new again, giving this style of music possibilities to attract a new audience.
"This group knows how to transcend musical boundaries."
Transcendence is a rock band driven primarily by Ed Hale’s distinctively emotive vocals. Hale sings with an urgency that may remind you of World Party’s Karl Wallinger (anybody still remember him/them?) at times, and he often comes across like he’s overwhelmed by all of his inner feelings. The CD’s title is more of a commentary on the scattered nature of life itself, instead of the music this group makes, because the songs on this disc hold together relatively well.
This group knows how to transcend musical boundaries, as these songs range from a cover of Paul McCartney’s “Tomorrow,” to one called “Caetano,” which is most likely about the Brazilian singer/social commentator Caetano Veloso. On “Caetano,” Hale’s voice tones fall somewhere between Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, and “Space Oddity”-era David Bowie. To his credit, Hale is never afraid to play the vocal chameleon if the direction of the song requires it.
There is a likeable sense of spontaneity running through these recordings, including plenty of controlled instrumental chaos (or simply put, feedback) at the end of some tracks. There is also plenty of stylistic variation here. For instance, “I Wanna Know Ya” chugs along with garage-y fervor, yet “Softening,” where the song title also describes the sound of the track, is a gentle, Todd Rundgren-y piano ballad. “If Your Baby Could” is also especially sweet, and plays out like a lullaby. Adding to the fun of this listening experience is the sexy sound of a women speaking in French between a few tracks.
It should be noted that Hale does have a bit of potty mouth at times. Never more so than on “Bored,” which – though profane – still succinctly sums up a few of entertainment business’s more harsh realities. “I’m such a f-ing whore, prostituting my integrity to secure this false celebrity,” Hale blurts out at one point.
Hale may have transformed his boredom into a notable song, but chances are you’ll never be bored by Transcendence. It may even help you transcend a few of the duller moments of your day.
By Dan MacIntosh