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ESSENTIAL NEW MUSIC

Essential New Music: Through The Sparks’ “Transindifference”

ThroughTheSparks

Birmingham, Ala., indie psych/folk mainstays Through The Sparks are anything but predictable. Tapping a vein equal parts New Order to at times Jerry Garcia sitting in with Captain Beefheart, it’s spotless to say the band follows no sonic road map or even direction, for that matter, sonically. Ambivalent-yet-graphic lyrics set to catchy rock ‘n’ roll spawned in no cookie-cutter mold. Hell, the band even trades instruments both onstage and in the studio like its first groupie; once a song is conceived, whatever noise maker is on hand hits the tape, be it your favorite or mortal enemy. Transindifference, the band’s first release since the ultimate demise of constant label companion and hometown stamp Skybucket Records, finds the band at the top of its game. As wholesomely weird as it is satisfying, it spans the gap from bad boss video-game music to early-’60s garage rock high on Pete Seeger’s ethos.

—Scott Zuppardo