Worlds Apart

Japanese pressing of 2005 album, scheduled to include three bonus tracks. Universal.

The lesson of this album--which is by no means unenjoyable in its use of loud-soft-loud dynamics and psychedelic guitar textures--is that the art-rock of the future is apparently not so different from the art-rock of the past. This band used to sounding an awful lot like late ‘80s Sonic Youth, and you can't blame them for wanting to try something new, but does it have to sound like a screamo take on the Moody Blues? It’s easy to imagine the members of this Austin-based act resplendent in ELP-style capes as they sing the bombastic, gospel choir-backed ditty "All White." Then again, the group samples "We Did It Again" by British prog pioneers the Soft Machine at the end of that particular song, as if to say that not only are those who don’t know the past doomed to repeat it, but those who do, as well. --Mike McGonigal