The Secret Machines: letting you have a dream

Our environ has become even more unpredictable and it appears to be reflected in our taste, i.e. - to extremity… Well, however noble intention behind the current chart topper - four weeks is too long to be ruling the mass charity. Other domestic acts storming the UK charts, helped by huge hype, are mildly entertaining in a comic way but their staying power is as long as a stand-up’s joke…

Consider The Secret Machines’ ‘Road Leads Where It’s Led’: funked-up pop-rocker with a waft of psychedelia, with strong melody and catchy refrain, it uses guitar to transport you to a ‘wonderland’ where limits are erased by enthusiasm to take you from yourself. Imagine Primal Scream absorbing 13th Floor Elevator deeper and getting as free as if on a Kowalski trail. That’s what the best pop music should do and in just 4 minutes it simply hauls up your spirit, it annihilates workday notions!

The single is culled from The Secret Machine’s [proper] debut album ‘Now Here is Nowhere’, released last June. The band’s sophomore release [following the ‘September 000’ from 2003] is full of gems to get you life on an upbeat/altered keel, whatever your choice may be. The space-rockers are glad to offer you an ambient where you can fantasise…

The Dallas-via-New York trio have been indicted of being influenced by Pink Floyd, Led Zepp, Neu!, Can, Brian Eno, Tangerine Dream, La Dusseldorf, Neil Young & Crazy Horse, The Band, My Bloody Valentine and Spiritualized and all are, more or less, true. When you can name so many sources then - there is no direct rip-off but a melting pot of ideas, imagination and innovation.

Brothers Ben and Brandon Curtis and drummie Josh Garza can immerse you in sounds you are not exposed to on regular basis. Be warned - you may get caught in a magical web where spatial, ambient, organic, poppy and psychedelic combine to create - hypnotic.

The Secret Machines are what neo ‘New Wave’ should be all about!

‘Road Leads…’ artwork doesn’t advice to Play it Loud but you should. It rocks much better when the speakers are rattling!

9/10