...AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD

Thankfully the music produced by Texan band ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead is not quite as contorted, pretentious and challenging as their ridiculous name suggests. Obviously they ain't no Blink 182 so intellectual pretension still figures in their works but unlike the likes of Godspeed Your Black Emperor the post-rock played by ...Trail of Dead (which they are oft abbreviated to) refreshingly concentrates on the rock, rather than the post. Obviously they aim for a bit of artiness and, typically, tracks will be linked by pretentious passages but for most of the actual "songs" themselves the band stick to all that is required. Indeed they are the most refreshing of commodities in the present music scene: an intelligent, ambitious band that can still knock off satisfyingly energetic and primitive rock'n'roll numbers. They also freely admit to ambitions of succeeding in the mainstream (after all, Radiohead did it with even more challenging albums) but, so far, they haven't broken free from the alternative scene, albeit being right at the top of the heap. I saw them live a while back at the Leeds Met University, which is certainly a bigger sized venue than you'd expect an "alternative" band to fill - which shows they at least have a core support in the UK. They were excellent live, by the way, and if you bought the NME a couple of weeks after the gig you can play spot the Jack Feeny as I can be found in one of the photos in NME's review. Just find the best looking bloke there and presume that he is me.

Exactly what sort of band ...Trail of Dead are is perhaps one of the most interesting points regarding them. They are often referred to as emo, but other than angry lyrics and shouty vocals there aren't many similarities. Certainly the band don't mope and would like you to believe they are far more fast livin' and hard rockin' than the likes of Jimmy Eat World (I'll reserve judgement on their claims). Unlike the Strokes or the Hives there are few obvious classic rock references. Drummer/co-vocalist Jason Reece seems mildly obsessed with the Who (apparently he's written a rock opera based on the Who's career) and his drumming is certainly Moon-esque (which can only be a good thing). I guess the Who are about as close as you are going to get although you really aren't going to be picking out obvious rip-offs. Punk rock is also an obvious reference point but, again, you're hardly going to pick out, say, a Ramones track and say it sounds just like a ...Trail of Dead one. Just add to the contrary nature of this discussion the band (Keely in particular) are just as equally fans of classic prog bands (Yes, Genesis, etc.) than punk. Passing similarities with Fugazi lend credence to the emo suggestions but, again, it isn't a massive influence. I imagine there are probably some underground bands I've not heard (Sonic Youth spring to mind) that sound most like them but I can hardly work with what I haven't heard. I'm not suggesting ...Trail of Dead are the most original band ever, but they are certainly more forward-thinking than most of their contemporaries (even including good bands like the Strokes or White Stripes). It just goes to show how beneficial it can be if you take in such a wide spectrum of music, across genres, rather than resorting to narrow-minded pillaging of two or three similar bands (who said Oasis?) Certainly they are a band that, if you have any interest in good contemporary rock music, you should be seeking out post haste.

From: XxBronYaurxX@aol.com

I am very pleased that ...Trail of Dead are being recognized for what they are(at least by reviewers like yourself), and that is the best true rock band to come along in a very, very long time. And you're right, it is a tragedy that more people haven't heard(of) them. My personal favorite off Source Tags & Codes would have to be "How Near, How Far..." but "Another Morning Stoner" and "Relative Ways" run a close second. Mostly I just wanted to say thank you for your insightful reviews and please keep up the good work.

From: ddickson@rice.edu

Dude! You must be PSYCHIC or something. Because you said that you "imagine" AYWKUBTTOD might sound like the Sonic Youth, but you claim not to have heard the Sonic Youth.
And you know what? Crazily enough, they DO. In fact, if there is ANY band this group mimics more than any other, it's the Sonic Youth. Hell, if there is any band out there that sounds MORE LIKE the Sonic Youth, I have yet to hear them.
Of course, I think Trail of Dead's a better band. But that's just 'cause I love Source Tags and Codes so much. How did you guess so right? You must be clairvoyant, dude.

[Amazingly, I'm not psychic. I just have an innate ability to read what other people say about bands and pass off their comments as my own - JF]

From: Vikram Kamat

Its great to see somebody in the wrc review ToD, easily the greatest contemporary band there is(yes, better than the Strokes AND the Stripes, although i do like those two bands too) . Its a pity they are so heniously ignored by the rest of the WRC. Source codes &tags and Madonna are easily the match for Is This It and Elephant (and much more consistently excellent, all things considered). Is there a greater song released this millenium than "Totally Natural"? I very much doubt it!

Before purchasing this album I was warned that it was much more lo-fi than the subsequent efforts but, thankfully, my fears were quickly allayed. Sure, the production is murky at times and this is probably the most "post" they ever got, with regards to post-rock, but the majority of this album rocks solid. Not only that but many of the songs are all really well-written efforts that combine rock histrionics with more subtle layers of sound. I should also point out that some of the guitar lines they throw at us are downright brilliant. Just dig that chord change and ascending bass run on the excellent "Half of What". There's also a great guitar riff on "Prince With a Thousand Enemies" which I'm having difficulty describing but, take my word for it, it rocks. It obviously goes without saying that the band haven't quite matured into their sound but it is fair to say that they certainly had an idea of what they wanted to achieve. In all honesty this just sounds exactly how you'd expect the ...Trail of Dead debut to sound, having already heard Madonna and Source Tags & Codes. There is perhaps more of a play on the loud-quiet dynamics in a post-grunge manner, with many songs contrasting whispered vocals and layered instrumentation with shouty, rock'n'roll stuff. Actually, in their career thus far they seem to have made a trademark out of low vocals, often buried too deep in the mix. Still, the point was always to contrast quiet vocals with the most aggressive ones and, in that respect, they obviously succeed. The only unusual thing about this is that for a couple of songs, "Novena Without Faith" and the closing "When We Begin to Steal", they whisper almost the entire song. Fortunately Reece still gets to scream away on the likes of "Gargoyle Waiting" and "Prince With a Thousand Enemies", two of the best tracks on the album. They perhaps lack the explosive energy of "Homage" and "Days of Being Wild" but I think we can put that mostly down to the cheap production of this album. The album probably sounds least like the subsequent releases at the start. The opening "Richter Scale Madness" bears a strong Pixies influence, whilst the layered post-rock of "Novena Without Faith", with its whispered vocals, was not reproduced on future albums. The middle chunk of the album is where the shit really starts to hit the fan. Even though "Fake Fake Eyes" does away with this Pixies post-rock and ushers in the real rockers it isn't really a stand out track in itself. The next four tracks certainly are, though. As I have already told you "Half of What" features a marvellous chord run and contrasts a yearning vocal melody on the verse with an angry chorus melody. "Gargoyle Waiting" has similar quiet verse/loud chorus dynamics and is essentially an equally as good song. "Prince With a Thousand Enemies" is a bit more progressive than the previous two numbers with a few mood-swings, culminating in that excellent guitar riff and Reece's screaming. In contrast, the most straight-forward rock track on the album is "Ounce of Prevention" which exhibits an early run-out for the patented ...Trail of Dead "build up song into angry scream" technique. Not that I'm criticising the band for it as, in many cases, it is what makes their songs so impressive. Rock'n'roll, that's for sure. Of course the band are also at their most pretentious, musically, at this point so the drawn-out album closer, "When We Begin To Steal" doesn't really take us anywhere, even if it does end the album with an appropriately melancholy mood. That said, they generally like to end their stage shows at their most aggressive, with a ritual destruction of their equipment. It's obviously been done before but it still makes for a rousing climax, unlike this album. Still, for most of it they manage to rock us successfully and with enough artistic ambition for it to mark itself out as a reliable indicator of things to come. Certainly if you're a fan of the band you'd be in no way worse off getting a copy of this album. Not the greatest debut ever but with enough excellent songs to ensure it isn't completely overshadowed by the two masterpieces that were to follow.

Loyal readers will no doubt already know that this was the album that got me into the Trail of Dead boys as I had already posted a review for this album on the Modern Age page. Luckily for you, unlike with The Ramones review I decided I had to rewrite the review as it wouldn't really have fitted in on a band page and, also, it was one of my poorer efforts, overall. So here comes review no. 2. Not that I think any less of this album than I did a year ago. I suppose Source Tags & Codes may have surpassed it in my affections but I doubt this remains anything less than a great album. The production is still quite rough but the overall mix is less murky with the guitars showcasing a guttural roar. The vocals are still contrasted between quiet and loud but it is achieved more successfully and the whispering has been, more or less, discarded. Finally, the songwriting has obviously noticeably improved with a handful of bona fide classics on here. All of these improvements can be best heard on the first track, the transcendently brilliant "Mistakes & Regrets". The intro is quiet enough, with a bit of restrained guitar picking, before the song erupts into life. Instead of screaming straight away, though, the brutal guitars are initially backed up only by low vocals before the murmurs turn to shouts and the song is cranked up a further notch that you wouldn't believe existed. Of course, the vicious melody is still wholly memorable and this time it is the choruses that slow things down, turning the standard grunge dynamics on their head. And you should hear the drumming - half the song's power from one instrument. If the Who really knew what they were doing they should get Reece in as Moon's replacement on their pathetic cash-in tours they do these days. Anyway, completely unlike the first album, it is the beginning of the album that really sets the rocks reeling. The onslaught of "Mistakes & Regrets" has barely ended before we are thrown, full-pelt, into the charge of "Totally Natural". I guess if we were to pick out Fugazi or Sonic Youth comparisons it would probably be the first half of this album where they most ring true. In any case, it doesn't take a huge leap of faith to declare "Mistakes & Regrets" and "Totally Natural" as the two best cuts from the album. That said, the third track "Blight Takes All" is hardly a whit lower in quality. Again it is a furious number with brutal guitars, pounding drums and hoarse, angst-ridden vocals. The band are willing to flex a bit of diversity on the latter number, as well, with a glockenspiel, of all instruments, picking out the chords along with the dirty riffing of the guitars. Through putting such a gentle instrument in such a ferocious song an extra dimension is inevitably added. Generally speaking, though, the arty touches are more concentrated on linking the tracks than actually affecting them. The likes of "Children of Hydra's Teeth", "Up From Redemption" and "The Day the Air Turned Blue" (not to mention the cleverly sampled introduction) are all solely instrumental tracks, linking the songs, usually based on layers of instrumentation and the odd samples. It is an undoubtedly classy approach and makes the album even more interesting than it would have been otherwise. "Clair de Lune" and "Mark David Chapman" (the man who shot John Lennon) are two of the more straight-forward songs on the albums, both beginning with jangly guitars before the former turns into an expected grunge crescendo and the latter builds into a shimmering climax. Similarly "Aged Dolls" begins in a rather slow, atmospheric manner but by the time it reaches its angsty, grungy climax no-one could say they didn't see it coming. If we're talking gradual climaxes, however, we best just ignore the fantastic "A Perfect Teenhood" which is little more than a ferocious blurt of a song, about as uncompromising as the band get, ending with "fuck you" being screamed a fair few times. In case you balk at my description it is nowhere near as cliched as it might sound. The album ends with the lovely, wistful "Sigh Your Children" which only misses out on being a best track by only being about 90 seconds long. An additional verse and chorus is what the (rock) doctor would have ordered. Still, such complaints are rather few and far between on this album. I only resist 10* because the songwriting isn't always consistently great, the grunge climaxes can be seen a mile off, and the production doesn't quite accentuate the melodies as well as it could. Now wouldn't it be wonderful if such minor mistakes were corrected and polished off for the next album? Here's hoping...

It presumably goes without saying that I've debated whether I can really give this album 10* and every time I listen to it I think "why the hell not?". This is a truly fantastic album. It delivers everything that Madonna promised and then some. Great songs (the hooks, man, dig those hooks); great, polished production; great instrumentation (riffs, etc.); and the perfect balance between intellectual pretension and pure, primitive rock'n'roll at its energetic best. It certainly doesn't seem that wrong to place it above some of the 9* luminaries (Wish You Were Here, Led Zeppelin, The Bends) and therefore it must be 10* quality. Every song on here is just great. It would therefore appear that this is the best album of 2002 (to date) and, personally, I haven't come across any superior offerings (and, yes, I'm including the albums by the Coral and Streets). The only real problem is that this album is such a perfect showcase of Trail of Dead's sound one wonders where they will go next. Certainly I can't see how they can repeat the formula and not sound like they're ripping themselves off. Well, that remains for a future review. At the moment we can simply bask in the sheer brilliance of this album. Perhaps the most impressive element of this album, particularly when compared to Madonna, is the simply superb songwriting with basically every song containing catchy hooks and with every attention being paid to the melodies. Even the raucously angry songs include a strong melody, unabashed in its sheer violence. "DO YOU BELIEVE... WHAT I SAY, WHAT I SAY?!?" screams Reece on the blistering "Homage" and, whether you do or not, you certainly don't forget the impact of the song. The equally aggressive "Days of Being Wild" (another Reece screamer) packs in an even tighter melody. Its like the rage of "A Perfect Teenhood" being crammed into more melodic surroundings. There are also less instrumental tracks on here, just "Invocation" at the start (which samples the intro to Madonna) and "After the Laughter" which separates the artistic and emotional highlight "Relative Ways" and the final title track (which is probably the weakest song on the whole album, relatively of course). (Actually, my UK edition has a bonus track, "Blood Rites", which is a standard screamer that sounds surprisingly like the Icarus Line.) "Relative Ways", as has been said, is the highpoint of the album, being a bit more ballady than we're used to and with the most amazingly wistful, yearning crescendo. Hear the last couple of minutes of that song and try telling me this ain't 10* material. Funnily enough, lead-off song "It Was There That I Saw You" is one of my least favourite tracks although I don't really see why, given it combines a wall of guitars with a fantastic melody. The likes of "Baudelaire" (sung by Busch) and "How Near How Far" are melodic rock of the standard rarely seen for many a year. The improved production also strengthens many songs that wouldn't have seemed half as good with the previous lo-fi production. Strings are added to many songs (although never overblown, always in the background) with the excellent "Another Morning Stoner" probably being the greatest beneficiary. The album's centre-piece is the wonderful epic "Monsoon" which, again, would only have succeeded with this production. The bass vamp almost makes the song on its own. I might as well add that Reece's drumming throughout this album is mind-blowing. This album is certainly evidence of a desire to break into the mainstream, with the abandonment of lo-fi production values and the predominance of melody. Still, that is usually a good thing and, meant only in the positive sense, this is pretty much the band's Nevermind. The fact that it, so far, has only sold a grain of Nevermind's total gross is perhaps the greatest tragedy of the new decade so far. Do yourself a favour and get this album. Now. You'll hear few better.

From: ddickson@rice.edu

This is definitely one of the greatest rock masterpieces of the new milennium, no doubt about it.
But I don't think it's QUITE the best album of 2002. Both Beck's Sea Change and Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot are just a shade better, in my opinion.

In between the release of their 2002 masterpiece and its successor a momentous event occured in my career as a Trail of Dead fan. I bought Daydream Nation by Sonic Youth. And suddenly, but not unsurprisingly, Trail of Dead became a whole lot less original. Of course, that has no bearing on the quality of their music and Source Tags & Codes is still easily the match for Sonic Youth's finest releases but it does kinda render the above introduction a little irrelevant. In any case, by contrast, in the gap between Source Tags and this release Trail of Dead clearly went the opposite way from me and drifted away from their Sonic Youth collection. Instead, this album, their fourth, is mostly inspired it seems by the pomp and grandeur of classic rock from the 1970s. Although I am in no way perceptive enough to pinpoint stylistic change on behind-the-scenes activity it is clear that the balance of power in the band has altered. Firstly, of course, bassist Neil Busch took his leave of the group and has not as of yet been replaced. He apparently does contribute towards some of the songs but is credited as an 'additional musician', Pink Floyd style. More importantly, Conrad Keely has assumed almost total control of the band, for this album at least, with Jason Reece remaining solely behind the drum-kit, bar an understated contribution to the excellent "Caterwaul". That is not a problem in itself as Reece is, of course, one of the great drummers in contemporary rock but it does mean this album lacks the visceral screamers that erupted on the previous albums, often with spectacular effect. Keely's vocals have never been the greatest, and he sometimes rivals even Billy Corgan in the nasal stakes, but it is probably more his personality that overshadows some of this material, and provides the resulting flaws. Although the title track, for instance, represents an enjoyably melodic college rock song the lyrics are, to be blunt, embarrassing. Trail of Dead have always played on their position as subversive underdogs, wreaking havoc in the heart of middle America, but Conrad's rant is so explicit and so immature that it is rather shameful to associate it with a rock star in his late twenties. 9/11 provides a suitably trite framework around which Keely rallies futiley against MTV, celebrities, and soccer moms with conspicuous swear-words that only add to the impression of it being written by a bored teenager with ideas above his station. That said, and weak though it seems, if you ignore the words you're left with an enjoyably rollicking little number. Similarly, Keely occasionally reaches beyond his grasp in the musical stakes with the Wagnerian orchestral flourishes and pompous classic rock crescendos tainting the band's well-earned reputation for combining rock'n'roll with genuine intelligence. In particular, the flirtation with the dynamics of classical music is starting to become a cliche of the band, exemplified by the ghoulish instrumental "For Russia, My Homeland". Furthermore, Keely is clearly quite content in his ambitions, as opening the album with a six minute epic that drags itself forward from a snail-pace certainly shows no lack of confidence. It is indicative of the album, though, that although it is a compelling opening there is something about it that just seems a little too over the top. On a similar basis, although "A Classic Arts Showcase", "Let It Dive" and "All White" are charged up with grandiose arrangements, there remains something not quite convincing about the whole experience; certainly in comparison to the raw authenticity of previous albums. It is as if the band are trying too hard to fulfill their supposed status as the new rock gods, whilst forgetting what put them there in the first place. That said, the first half of the album offers an infectious overview of the band's career to date with intelligent rock'n'roll songs that combine raw melody with polished production. "The Summer of '91" climaxes from lilting piano to full throttle power ballad, whilst "The Rest Will Follow" is trademark ToD, with orchestral flourishes adding to the anguished chorus. The highlight of the whole album, though, is "Caterwaul" which delivers a yearning narrative with understated menace, aided by Reece's only vocal appearance. On the whole, it is not as if any song is poor or even mediocre but this album is evidence of how, once you reach the top, it is so incredibly difficult to stay there. On this basis, great band though they may well be, the flaws are already starting to show.

From: ddickson@rice.edu

Say. Just read your review here, and wanted to point out that there's another band out there Trial of Dead borrowed a LOT from to make Source Tags and Codes. Husker Du--in particular, Zen Arcade. A lot of the melodic and vocal delivery on the album come straight from that 1984 semi-classic. This album's title track is dynamite. John McCain ROCKS. (So does Mrs. Clinton, unfortunately--it'll be a tough call three years from now. Wotta soon-to-be-dated comment.)

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