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I think I was trolling around the internet, searching for music to download off of MySpace “tribute” sites, and I somehow found a site set up by two Austin musicians, Michael Frazier and James Evans, who perform under the name Transmography. Along with one absolutely embarrassing video that they’d posted on the site showing them playing to an empty coffee shop somewhere in Oklahoma, were a selection of tracks that, quite honestly, I’d never heard anything like before. One tune was called “Bhopal,” like the chemical plant in India that caused all that environmental devastation. I wasn’t really sure how the title connected to what I was hearing, which sounded for all the world like somebody scraping a piece of metal along another piece of metal in a syncopated, almost “catchy” rhythm, before the track descended into random drum beats, bass noises, and computer manipulated whooshes. Another tune, “IceCreamManFromJapan,” began with a murky bass thrum before exploding into an almost anthemic burst of drums and guitar. It was the sort of thing that Einsturzende Neubauten might have tried two decades ago if they’d had a gift for melody and a sense of humor (which they didn’t).
Polydactyly is Frazier and Evans’s second release as Transmography, but it is the first with this minimal lineup and adventurous sound, and it’s long overdue. The record (which contains both of the aforementioned MySpace tracks) unfolds as a series of vocal-less blasts, each with its own individual character: some of the tunes are dominated by drum programming, others by power chords and furious human drumming, and still others by a combination of keyboards and unidentified computer sounds. The remarkable “Birthday Girl Sweater” is a slow-burning powerhouse of a track, beginning with an almost understated guitar-and-drums melody that soon builds to a crescendo of staccato power-chords. Sonny Sharrock tried this sort of thing a whiles back, as did James “Blood” Ulmer, but neither of them, in my humble opinion, had the ability to balance jazz-chops with a rock sensibility like our heroes here.
And they are heroes, of a sort. In a recent free showcase at South By Southwest for their label, 8088 Records, Transmography produced an absolutely arresting set, dominated by Frazier’s pounding drums and Evans’s melodic guitar and bass—or was it melodic drums and pounding guitar and bass? It was hard to tell, but their ability to do a lot with a little was clearly in evidence, as was their experimental jazz-rock buddy system—two men alone, switching instruments with one another, and both blasting superheated sounds into the crowd.
To be sure, not every track on Polydactyly works as well on record as in live performance. The album’s lead-off track is a version of “IceCreamManFromJapan” that’s inferior to the early, demo version they had posted on-line—a problem with the earlier version’s fidelity, it seems. The album version is still a remarkable construction, but it pales next to the original. However, the record’s other sound and rhythm explorations, such as “Prime Numbers,” “Calerpa,” and “Slimeline,” more than make up for the opening-track lameness, and are all excellent examples of Frazier and Evans’s abilities to combine harsh and sweet sounds in the same track.
In a universe of increasing musical downloadability and website self-promotion, the possibility of music that’s as adventurous and captivating as Transmography’s actually reaching beyond the band’s small circle of friends is going way up, and local Austin heroes like these guys are, one can only hope, poised to rule the world. Or Austin, at any rate.
Website:
Myspace
