The Touques: EP

As I listened to this eponymous EP from US outfit The Touques I am ashamed to say my first thought was that they sounded pretty amateurish.  The guitars sounded too loud, there were tuning issues all over the place and the whole thing sounded like one big mess.  But then about halfway through the record something happened; I "got" what The Touques were doing.

Quite frankly, this record is just mad enough to work.  Since coming to this realisation I've had the EP on repeat constantly and it gets more and more enjoyable with every listen.  The guitars aren't too loud, the tuning's deliberately obtuse, and when viewed simply as a sonic entity what at first sounded like mess is actually a very astute creation indeed.

The music of The Touques is perhaps a touch too arch for most listeners, but I get the impression that those who do understand what's going on will absolutely love it.

The Touques - 4 [audio //www.bearfacedrecords.com/EbMBlog_mp3s/TheTouques/TheTouques_4.mp3]

The Touques - Roy Stampler [audio //www.bearfacedrecords.com/EbMBlog_mp3s/TheTouques/TheTouques_RoyStampler.mp3]