Austin Sound

It’s been how many years since the 13th Floor Elevators released their debut? Over four decades, you say? How many years has it been since Roky Erickson resurfaced from the depths of some zombie movie? Five or ten? And how many Texas, nay how many Austin, bands have rehashed Roky’s influence to the point that everyone is sick of it? Well, fear not, because – like fellow Austin rockers Horse + Donkey – Diagonals have created an amazingly good psychedelic rock record. The 13th Floor Elevators’ influence is slapped all over the band’s new album, Valley of the Cyclops, and it’s eight twisting tunes offer a new way to view the enduring (sometimes interminable) legacy that Roky has had on Austin’s rock and roll sound.

Perhaps like the 13th Floor Elevators before them, Diagonals are truly an Austin band. Everything about the band seems genuinely appropriate for Austin as the first decade of the aughts approaches its end. On the opening track, “Wizard Dome,” the band rips off four minutes of jangling psychedelic surf rock ending with a guitar twirling coda that is a jug solo short of 1964. The flipside is that Steve Garcia’s disaffected slacker vocals about being able to buy food and weed, but not a home are one gentrification joke short of today. Brilliant. (Side note: honestly, the best part of that song is whatever galloping floor tom part kicks in about 30 seconds from the end. Drummer Todd Larson deserves praise for inserting that little part into an already scorching outtro.)

Fortunately, Diagonals don’t get trapped in a psychedelic slacker haze. They easily move into psychedelic surfer and psychedelic indie rock hazes. On “Suitcase Packed”, the band puts together a perfect combination of both as the familiar tale of missing someone who pissed in your sink unwinds over the waves of a sunshine melody. Across Valley of the Cyclops, the guys consistently string together just the right amount of chugging drones, trippy guitar fills, and pulsing keyboards mixed with woozy vocals to give the impression that the band is just disenfranchised enough to not really give a damn- but not in a bad ass way; more like in a slacker living on Austin’s east side in a house with your friends way. In fact, on the clever ode to clown sex - “Clown Fucker” - the band sounds exactly how five or so of your long time friends would probably sound if they were locked in a garage with a few cases of beer, a reverb pedal, a synthesizer capable of making some awesome noise, and a goddamned sense of humor. (Side note two: Same goes for “Neil Diamond Blues”, except you’d also have to come up with a really engaging snaking opening riff that pops up throughout the song.)

There’s probably not much of Diagonals’ Valley of the Cyclops that’s going to be considered groundbreaking. Their most recent obvious influence could possibly be the first couple of R.E.M. albums. Thankfully, there’s a place in Austin for guys making distinctly Austin music. In no other city and at no other time could Diagonals exist. At times it drones or jangles and at others it rocks and rolls in just the right ways. Their music is our present informed by our past. Be it for laying on the floor in a darkened living room drinking with friends, passed out on the couch in the front lawn in the sunshine, or walking the east side streets, Diagonals have made an excellent Austin album.

Websites:
http://diagonalsmusic.com
Myspace