Secret machines

Thrasher Magazine, Sept, 2004 by Bryan Reesman

SECRET MACHINES ARE HERE FOR A PURPOSE. Hailing from Dallas, Texas but now based in NYC, the four year-old group--comprised of vocalist, bassist, and keyboardist Brandon Curtis, guitarist and vocalist Ben Curtis, and drummer Josh Garza--wants to rock out and create a fulfilling musical experience for their audience. On their Reprise debut Now Here Is Nomhere one can hear the influence of '70s psychedelia, space rock, and Krautrock, and the band's swirling, chunky analog sounds are enigmatic, organic, and accessible. Even if the trio's younger fans are unaware of the ambient and experimental excursions of their musical predecessors, frontman Brandon Curtis says he is more than happy to be their aural ambassador to that bygone era.

Many psychedelic and space rock bands have emerged from the Lone Star State since the '60s, including the Thirteenth Floor Elevators, Linus Pauling Quartet, Lithium X-Mas, and Seven Percent Solution, among numerous others. Curtis believes it is no coincidence. "It's the heat," he remarks. "You stick your head in an oven long enough and things will get a little different. It changes you. In Dallas, they will have 100 days where not only are the highs over 100 degrees but the lows don't get lower than 85 degrees. It cooks you. There is a lot of space in Texas. It's a very open, sprawling, massive environment. With a few exceptions, it's pretty empty."

Vacuousness is not an issue for Secret Machines, who are all about creating trippy, groove-laden spaces and fleshing them out. Only one of the nine songs on the new album is shorter than four minutes, and the CD opens and closes with nine-minute epics. Even then, the album manages to clock in at just over 50 minutes. Further, the impressionistic lyrics for tunes like the propulsive "First Wave Intact" and infectious "Light's On" are inspired more by abstract concepts than strict narratives. "Conceptually the idea behind the lyrics was to make something that requires a listener to fill in the blanks to make the story work," says Curtis. "To not be too literal and not try to spell anything out. At the same time it's not stream-of-consciousness." When asked about the inspiration behind the contemplative, droning tune "You Are Chains," Curtis replies, "Immediately what comes to mind is this complex image, feeling, emotion. It's this solid thing that's out there in my emotional space, and as a musician my job is trying to describe it [and make it] into a song. My personal description of that solid figure that exists in space somewhere is that song That's the best I can do."

In helping them realize their lofty artistic aspirations, co-producer and analog synthesizer designer Jeff Blenkinsopp--who came of age during the British psychedelic rock scene of the early to mid-'70s around such bands as Amon Duul and Hawkwind, and who also worked for Brit Row, Pink Floyd's sound and light company--created special filter boxes for the group. According to Curtis, Blenkinsopp "had this idea of building these filter boxes and then treating the sonics of the album in a different light, treating it in groups. Grouping high end and low end and then actually filtering groups and segments and instruments together rather than processing each track individually He built these boxes and turned us loose with them in the studio. It was really fun because it took on the Mad Scientist vibe."

They may like to play in the studio, but onstage Secret Machines are serious about mesmerizing their fans. "We just try and make an impact," says Curtis. "You're there performing for 40 minutes when you're opening [for another band], and we just try and make the most of it. We pay attention to what's happening. We're going to start something at the beginning of the 40-minute set, and by the end it's going to make sense. It may not be literal, it may not be a specific narrative, but at least there's a beginning, middle, and end. It's taking care to create something, whereas it seems like a lot of bands will play three-and-a-half minutes, stop, tune their guitars for a minute, play another song, stop, start, and stop. I think it can be done well, but I think a lot of times it comes off as careless. You're not preserving that moment, the feeling that you got at the end of the song. You didn't want it to stop, and now you're watching them tune guitars."

With Secret Machines seeking sonic experimentation and taking their playing seriously, and given the fact that old school rock and roll is cool again, this is a perfect time for them to make their mark. "I think the most attractive quality of music is actually hearing the music being performed," declares Curtis. "I love electronic music and some of the weird, esoteric [stuff like] avant-garde, ambient, and musique concrete, but sometimes you want to hear instruments being played. That's an attractive quality that's sometimes overlooked in modern music, especially modern popular music."