I would like to introduce to a wider audience a band whom I have become enamored with: The Temper Trap.
The Temper Trap is a rock band from Melbourne, Australia. Difficult categorize, perhaps considered alternative rock, their signature is an atmospheric, ethereal sound. They have great rhythms with heavy bass. They are self described as “A’cappella / Other / Melodramatic Popular Song” via their myspace page.
Whereas some albums can be quite repetitive with a similar sound when listening to it from start to finish, I find that there is a good range of sounds on their album. The listener never knows what to expect, and is constantly surprised by what happens within any given song, as well as from song to song. The lead singer Dougie Mandagi also uses his falsetto voice at all the right times throughout the album, enhancing the atmospheric sound, almost like they are recording in a vacuum. This uniqueness prevalent throughout the album has given me the pleasure of listening to it from start to finish well over a dozen times, and some individual songs as many as fifty times since I bought the album at the end of January.
The band has been active since 2005, but didn’t release their debut album until June 2009. Unfortunately for me, I did not discover them until the end of January 2010. However, I must admit that I came across them by happenstance, and ironically because of my love for house and electronic music. I had heard a great remix of their song “Sweet Disposition” remixed by Axwell and Dirty South, who are two of my favorite DJs and producers. This song is currently being played by every DJ who spins house music in some form right now; I have half a dozen DJs in the last couple of months and they have all played it. Anyways, I loved this song so much, that I did research into the original. Upon giving the original a listen, I was quite impressed and subsequently purchased the entire album. I can say with certainty that this is my absolute favorite album released in 2009, and one I will listening to regularly for a long time to come.
I would be hard pressed to select my favorite songs from the album, as there are aspects of each song that appeal to me. I encourage you to listen to the whole album, but I will highlight some of the standout tracks: Sweet Disposition, Fader, Rest, and Science of Fear.
Wait I’m not done yet. The best part is that they are incredible live. I went to their concert this past Monday night at the Music Hall of Williamsburg. It was amazing. One of the best rock shows I have been to in a long while. Granted, I was very hyped for them since I really love their album, but this could be seen as making it easier to disappoint me. But disappoint they did not. They played a majority of their songs from their album, in no particular order but I enjoyed the changing of the sequence. They concluded with “Drum Song” which is a vocal free song and incorporated strobe lights, with the lead singer banging away on an extra drum with a mixture of sweat and water on the drum, splashing about in the flash of the lights. It was momentous. They even came back out and did a 2 song encore set, playing a new song titled “The Rabbit Hole” and concluding finally with “Science of Fear.” Do yourself a favor and see them live. They don’t have any upcoming shows currently scheduled for New York, but they are on the bill for the music festivals Coachella and Bonnaroo, as well as other shows around the country.
Worth of mention also is the band who opened for The Temper Trap, The Kissaway Trail, an indie rock band from Denmark. I was not familiar with them, but very much enjoyed them. Worthy of note is that their lead singer and keyboardist wore a Yankees baseball cap. More on them in a future post, once I have a chance to listen to their material properly.
The Temper Trap – see them live and listen to their album Conditions.