Aaron Bartz, Darren Miller, and Boyd Dixon are Tame ... Tame & Quiet. But not really.
|
|
|
|
A D V E R T I S E M E N T
|
|
|
|
A D V E R T I S E M E N T
|
|
Tame and Quiet
By Jimmy Fowler
Some musicians mellow with time, while others rage with age — it all depends on what you want the last note to sound like before they start shoveling the dirt on your lid. With a name like Tame ... Tame and Quiet, you’d think ex-Benway guitarist Darren Miller was ditching the artful electric-string squiggliness that distinguished his much-lauded former outfit for music fit to accompany a funeral. But when Miller and vocalist/guitarist Aaron Bartz (late of The Scenic Routes) began tossing around the ideas in 2004 that would ferment into TT&Q, the duo took up the concept of balance as a challenge. Miller wanted to head toward creamier, more tuneful musical terra firma, while Bartz felt he’d been locked in laid-back position with The Routes for too long and wanted to rawk, man!
An advance listen to a few of the tunes on TT&Q’s upcoming disc, Tin Can Communicate, suggest that these two dudes, along with percussionist Boyd Dixon, have found the middle of the road without loitering. “Heroic As It Is” starts off with a background of nocturnal creature noises before detouring into a snappy pop beat; “Cursive or Worse” introduces the band as professional Steely Dan impersonators before wandering into Sonic Youth’s more mournful terrain. Everything’s bracketed by lovely, gently ringing guitar interludes. Tame ... Tame and Quiet’s sonic fingerprint seems to be the willingness to change moods within each song. Our only suggestion concerns marketing — wouldn’t a band name like D’Aaron have been more subversive?
Fri w/The Dicks and Sweet Skull at the Wreck Room, 3208 W 7th St, FW. 817-348-8303.
Email this Article...
