Tyrannosaurusex - Cities of the Red Night

One of the best things about my years of playing in a no holds barred psychedelic noise-rock band in Colorado was meeting the dudes from a band called Lil' Slugger who were forged of similar ilk.  That band was and still is one of my favorites to have come out of that scene (me thinks a Lil' Slugger post will be in order in the future).  After the band went separate ways a few years ago (though an unfinished masterpiece album is apparently still in the works) the members have delved in to other projects.  Ben has an Austin based electro R&B outfit called Young Pharoahs while Joey has this here solo endeavor of Tyrannosaurusex.  This was one of the first releases I heard from Joey post-Slugger and was quite thrilled about the new direction.  Knowing him primarily as a well versed angular guitar player with incredibly tasteful licks that are hard to comprehend, this release showcases his movement towards experimenting with electronic sounds.  For much of this album, I feel like I'm stuck inside a game of pong where the boundaries and ball velocity are constantly shifting (Sunlight on Water).  There are washes of reversed keyboards and minimal drumbeats that ebb and flow in tempo but always in a way that seems natural.  There are also moments of just great sounding warped-as-fuck synths that create a nice atmosphere between the nonlinear drumbeat explorations (Strange Words in His Throat and A Hand That Shoots Blue Sparks).  But my favorite track is probably White Ship Gleaming On An Empty Sky.  Here, we have Joey's familiar angular guitar stylings superimposed with  melodic keyboard blips and feedback of some kind while the panning goes wild.  Just gorgeous, to the right set of ears I suppose.  The other highlight on here is the title track which sounds like it could have possibly been a Kid A outtake for being too weird.  Though the song is a slightly more straight forward listen than the rest of the album, the beat here is complex as fuck.  Throw in some warped/pitch shifted vocals and syncopated staccato keyboard loops, you have one hell of an album closer.  Prairie Fire Tapes put this album out and still has copies (though I don't see them on the webstore so you might have to email them direct).  Paint the city night red.

Also, here's a brand new Tyrannosaurusex track: