Ester

What do you get when you combine arpeggiated riffs, 80's drum machine beats, beautiful ethereal vocals, shoegaze styling, and non-western tuning and harmonics? Well, Trailer Trash Tracys got something that works to create one of the most unique and interesting albums of early 2012. Pitchfork reviewed this album and labeled it as a disappointment; I think they are WAY off the mark. Maybe it wasn't what they were expecting? Well, I don't think this album was what anyone was expecting. This album is a true original, a brilliant full-length debut; there's not a song on it that I would ever mistake for another artist.OK, so it's original, but is it actually good listening? Definitely YES. New experimental works are often lacking in coherence. Not "Ester". This album is full of entrancing melodies and richly textured sounds that reward repeated listens (especially with good headphones).It's great to know that in a world where the masses constantly reward musicians that put out old wine in new flasks, at least some musicians are still trying to push the boundaries. If you think you know what indie music is "supposed to" sound like, you probably won't like this album. But if you are looking for something new, buy it and enjoy.

I love this band!

I said "Aha!" as soon as I heard this. It peaked my interest immediately when I realized that Shoegaze could be updated and made to sound this cool, this soothing, this shiny and bright. This is a classic.

Great album.

This album was worth the wait.

Trailer Trash Tracys have put out two singles before this album that are included as new recordings, 'Strangling Good Guys' and 'Candy Girl'. I prefer the newer, less distorted recordings. The rest of the album is good as well, really shoe-gazey and lots of vocal harmonies. Did I mention the guitar work?

Fears already exist for the future of Trailer Trash Tracys. Sure, their debut LP Ester houses some choice tunes, but the majority of these were written a few years ago and the more modern remainder just doesn't carry the same weight ... but away with such negativity for now.For, offering more than a glimmer of hope, the recent and Raveonettes-reminiscent "Dies In 55" bucks this trend, running quiet riot with twinkling arpeggios, sugary retro-futurist equipment and unsubtle machine-gun rips from a prominent electronic drum. So too do the compressed beat of "Starlatine", its otherworldly percussion and dreamy speaker-to-speaker shifts that suggest tripping out on Mazzy Star records.Unfortunately, elsewhere, despite what must be a conscious effort to diversify, certain experiments fall flat. Lacking cohesion, "Engelhardt's Arizona" is an overlong exercise in disparately skewed synth and aggressive drum chirrups that flail wildly in the mix rather than with real impact. Later, "Black Circle" suffers from the same problem while its bubbling bassline feels kind of nauseous, but not in a good way.Another issue is that some tracks seem little more than badly recalled echoes of Ester's better material - see the beleaguered "Los Angered" for proof. And then there's the unnecessarily re-recorded version of the formerly striking "Strangling Good Guys". As a result, this slightly blunted edit has lost some of its crumpled shoegaze thrust, but luckily not so much as to render the track entirely impotent.Happily, Ester mostly manages to bury its minuses however, as the shadow cast by its high points forgives that which is consigned to the shade. As such, and just as it has for the past couple of years, that mesmeric bassline so evocative of David Lynch's Twin Peaks hums perfectly here beneath Suzanna Aztoria's beautiful vocal in "You Wish You Were Red" - a ponderous account that is otherwise high on Cocteau Twins intangibility, retro rock `n' roll, warping pedal effects and an almost-C86 jangle.Equally impressive, "Candy Girl" successfully blends those ever-so-sleek bass interjections with a dancing guitar riff, girl-group pop and lashings of nostalgic shoegaze noise. Aztoria too here engages energetically with the track, rushing upwards and falling back as gracefully as a bird in flight.An album of two halves then, Ester is neither complete success nor total write-off. Benefit of the doubt prevails for now, but Trailer Trash Tracys are going to have to iron some consistency into any future material fast if they aren't soon to be consigned to landfill - and that's an effort surely worth making as when they find a winning formula they're really much better than their much-mocked band name may suggest.Advised downloads: "You Wish You Were Red" and "Candy Girl".

Great album

Absolut phantastische Platte! Tolle Mischung aus verhallt-träumerischen Songs und sehr einfalls- und abwechslungsreicher Musikalität. Keine XX-Reduziertheit (und auch -t'schuldigung:- Langeweile), sondern coole Indie-Sounds der frühen 80er gepaart mit Witz und Melancholie.Vergleiche mit The XX und The Pain Of Being Pure At Heart werden gerne angestellt, die Nähe zum grandiosen letzten Album von Beach House ist für mich aber wesentlicher.Etwas "schräge", dissonante Parts (etwa das Eröffnungsstück)wechseln sich ab mit mit somnambul-stimmungsvollen Songs und Ausflügen in temporeichere, rhythmisch fließende Stücke.Prima: Der Schnee glitzert in Halbmondnächten und der Frühling ist das nächste, was uns blüht. So könnte man die Platte auch beschreiben, wäre aber etwas peinlich.

Ich kannte die Band nur von FM4, und auch nur das eine Lied "You wish you were red", aber trotzdem hab ich die CD gleich gekauft. Etwas enttäuscht bin ich, weil die restlichen Songs nicht so ins Ohr gehen wie dieser eine. Alles in allem sind die Songs sehr ähnlich, verschwimmen irgendwie ineinander und der Gesang ist eher ein "Dahin-hallen". Stimmlich also keine große Leistung. Dennoch ein einheitlich schönes Album für Hintergrundmusik zum Relaxen.

Rather sounds spacey and psychodelic. This British band sounds like they could be from California. Happy with the purchase, female lead singer good but not very up front or pronounced. Favorite songs are "Wish you were Red" and "Black Circle". On the song "Wish you were red" opening guitar riffs sound like there taken from the Whos song "Baba O'reilly", probably intentionally done as a salute to the Who. This band is currently on tour in Europe opening for the Maccabees, another good British band.