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"Hello Bird isn't quite sure if it wants to be loud, raucous rock or plaintive,
psychedelic rock-but therein lies its charm. Like one must suspend disbelief in
a movie, so must you with this. The surprises will make you happy you did."
-Randy Harward
Tolchock trio - olde english for "big sound from three young men" (it's actually a Clockwork Orange
reference, right Joy?) - have 2 albums carved out of the finest Russian butter, and hello bird is their first.
Originally released on red triangle records , and later added as the initial release on {exumbrella},
this album continues to amaze me as does it's follow-up Ghosts Don't Have Bones .
Songs can begin in a somewhat standard pattern by suit & tie listings (I'm hearing " waltz "), but
come the appropriate time to end the damn thing, the trio absolutely destroy it.. . this is a seriously
common issue with tolchock - and I fucking adore it ("gold flax" follows suit). Tape reels begins to
sound like they're a year late on servicing, instruments are transforming to nests of fuzz and, at this
very moment, Cobain would be on top of Grohl's drumset. Then, as a furious fit of betrayal hits,
trio drummer Dan Thomas reappears and leads the other 2 parts tolchock (Oliver Lewis, Ryan Fedor)
into another minute of exquisite ramble that paints the blood red splotch on "waltz"'s exclamation.
Thomas is a damn fine drummer, tops in a mess of many indie wishers, a statement backed up on hello bird .
Further examination into the destructive side of T3 finds the 10+ minute true rock of "gotta disaster" - shit
gets technical around 7:30-mark and beats itself to a grizzly, static death.
Then there's the gentle facade of these three, on a gem like "The Estate Of Frank O ' Hara". On every
Brian Jonestown Massacre release, there may be that one track that beams like a stunner we all know
Anton Alfred Newcombe is capable of (think "Let's Pretend It's Summer" from Strung Out in Heaven )
- that's
what "The Estate Of Frank O ' Hara" is on hello bird . Am I saying tolchock trio sound like BJM? Not directly,
but in a " whatever - starfucker" kinda way. The grand fact is Utah's tolchock trio can keep you guessing and
enthralled at equal moments - things are pushed to the limits in mixing that simply amaze me. This band turns
what could be basement-band common noise into Jell-O™ Pudding Pops and shoves 'em in your ass - stick first.
This is where it all began for bog and all his holy angels and saints, with Ghosts Don't Have Bones as the solid
second offering (that has her review coming too). Seek both.
FYI: when asked what kind of music tolchock trio is, the answer is usually 'rock music'.
this was written about 'ghosts don't have bones' in Salt Lake City Weekly -
"..Ghosts Don't Have Bones may be the coolest title to drop thus far in
2004, and the Tolchock Trio's second album, being released tonight, lives up
to it. The Salt Lake City threesome expands on last year's Hello Bird with a
keener sense of adventure, more purposeful noise, some well-placed guitar
rave-ups and that elusive indie-rock charm the kids (thankfully) still
clamor for. Tunes like “Goose,” “Sugar-Coated Hornets” and the epic
14-minute title track burn the speakers in 3-D—yeah, it's a keeper..."
- Bill Frost
" Every so often the national music media arbitrarily designates one area of the
country as a “hot scene.” We've seen this with Seattle in the early '90s, and more
recently with New York. Could Salt Lake City ever become such a hype town?
If any significant member of the music media were to stumble across Ghosts Don't
Have Bones, then I'd say it could. The refreshingly awkward ascending riff of “Wolf Eyes,”
the pump-up intensity of “Reflux Bollox,” and the strutting funk of “Goose” is enough
to put Salt Lake on the proverbial map. It's that good.
–RMac
" Balancing deceptively catchy melodies, energetic disocordance and off-kilter, yet right-on-time
drum beats, Salt Lake City's Tolchock Trio lay their groove right where indie-pop and post-hardcore
collide. In their sophomore release, Ghosts Don't Have Bones , the trio offsets the mounting dissonance
and vertigo with deft touches of vibraphone, organ, under-your-breath vocal murmurs and falsetto
oohs (that is, when not liberally channeling the bark and bite of Black Francis). This comes together
especially well in the beat-bending "Black Bats" and the Delta blues-twice-removed "Tolchock Riot,"
the latter complete with mid-section guitar collapse and overdriven recapitulation. All said, this disc
rocks some serious ass."
the nowontour website - http://www.nowontour.com/reviews/record/00935.php
"Tolchock Trio label themselves as a "rock" band, but to say that's oversimplifying is an understatement.
Their new record, Ghosts Don't Have Bones , is one of the most exciting albums I've heard since
Beulah's farewell, and from the opening pomp of "Our Lady Of Good Counsel" through to the ethereal
experimentalist fugue of the title track, there's not one moment when it's possible to turn off your CD
player without feeling slightly disrespectful towards these fine musicians.
The entire album is a wonderfully colourful pageant of diversely costumed rhythms, counterpoints
and melodies, with nods to everything from Renaissance dance music to Radiohead's Amnesiac
and earlier Explosions In The Sky. Serious composers as well as songwriters, the Trio employs
Sondheim-esque tactical deployment of catchy melodic percussion to subvert their own seriousness.
The opening song is a gentle intro, not as energetic as much of what's to follow, but it's fertile ground
all the same. The slinky guitar-twanging is tantalising in its fleeting nature, and the lyrics, while
gloriously abstruse, are delivered with languid verve by the talented Mr. Oliver Lewis. It's mood
music at its best, and the mood in question is introspective and a little claustrophobic at this stage,
with full-blown euphoria yet to descend upon us.
"Black Bats" begins like a slightly tighter Modest Mouse opening, but finds its own way
from there. The song beguiles with a straightforward verse before launching into its killer chorus
of "I wrote you 'cause I needed to ." "Reflux Bollox" is similarly joyous, containing a rapturous
guitar-drum instrumental that would feel overblown by most standards, but here is carried off
with skill and sensitivity. Also deserving lavish praise is "Meteor," which features some playfully
simplistic yet loveable vibraphone, contrasting the stately and perfectly-timed guitars and drums
beautifully. And just when you think the song's over, there's a reprise! It's amazing how pathetically
grateful one is for the opportunity to have it all over again without needing to reach for a button, almost
as though the band are aware of the intoxicating power of their sweeping, ambitious music. They're
one of the rare groups whose instrumental skills are so strong that it takes until the third play of the
album to even contemplate paying proper attention to the lyrics (which are by no means poor).
That's not to say the Trio is too esoteric to appeal to wider tastes, however. "Hornets" is rocking in a
more mainstream, Radio 4-style way, with an excellent series of question-and-answer vocals and
perfectly straight drumming, lifted above the average by the imaginatively chaotic dissonance of the guitars
and vocals. Surely a hit in the making is "Wolf Eyes" (that's the first "Wolf Eyes," because there's a brief
instrumental reprise of this song much later on the album). The riff, cleverly syncopated against the drum beat
to give the impression of messy fragmentation when it's actually a very precise orchestration, is one that promises
to stay in your head all day, and the lyrics - " I get scared! " - are suggestive of the tightrope walk that is
everyday life for those of a nervous disposition. The closure of the song is punkish yet amiable: they're nothing
if not a band of reconciled contradictions. "Goose" starts out mildly threateningly - " if you don't like it, get out " - but
soon segues into a devil-may-care funk of descending riffs and organ that echoes the leading rhythms of courtly
dance, and you'd be hard-pressed not to tap your feet to it.
By the time the eponymous closer emerges, you can't believe it's going to get any better, and yet it does.
There's some ambient fretwork to open with, along with a distant rumble of snare, and this lasts just long
enough to create anticipation without grating, as it develops into a very zen soundscape of vibraphone and
twinkling guitar, which turns out to be the eye of the storm before the booming drums return. From this
point you're not just listening to an excellent album, you're also receiving a master class in form and phrasing,
with the repeated lyric " ghosts don't have bones ," beguilingly cryptic before it's replaced by stream-of-consciousness
poetry set against swirling, psychedelic guitar. The denouement, after twelve minutes, is fortunately not self-defeating
mindless thrash but a well-thought-out disassembly, via repetition of the song's central riff, eerily fading and leaving
only a tiny shiver on your spine as you're left in silence.
Tolchock Trio demonstrate the virtue of music for music's sake time and again on this record, rather than
merely providing an accompaniment for the vocalist, and allow themselves the space to explore particular melodic
paths, without worrying about returning to base for the next pop single. There's something very new and refreshing
about this band, and yet their music has a very familiar feel. That's because listening to Ghosts Don't Have Bones
may well prove as much of a revelation as the first time you heard any of the greats that now take pride of place in
your collection and in your heart."
Similar Albums
Modest Mouse - The Moon and Antarctica
Explosions in the Sky - The Earth is Not a Dead, Cold Place
Radiohead – Amnesiac
Chris Griffiths
03.02.2006
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