Live Review:

L.A. Weekly
Pick of the Week, September 13.
You know how once in a while a band starts to play and the song is so enticingly trippy, you just stand there transfixed, forgetting that you have a $5 beer in your hand? That’s what the Transmissions’ “I’ll Run It” can do to you. Delicate, floating guitar notes weaved into a heavy groove make for music you’ll want to spend some quality alone time with. Yeah, it’s all been done before, but lead singer Christian Biel has a urgency and sadness to his voice that will make you want to rub his tortured brow with a cool cloth.

Latest Reviews:

"Burning The Winner" in NOFI-MAGAZINE
Listening to THE TRANSMISSIONS' "Burning the Winner", I am reminded of Ian Svenonius/ The Make-Up. That is, if the Make-Up slowed themselves down to a more moody, psychedelic experience, or something closely related to that. The Transmissions are another reason the L.A. music scene here is getting better and better. They make me want to pat them on the back or something, give them a cookie and say "Great Job, Keep it Up", and be completely sincere about it.

"Burning The Winner" in REWRITEABLE CONTENT
My biggest complaint with most "LA" music is that no one takes any chances; however, the common thread running through The Central Second collective is having the confidence to create unique music. Hearing The Transmissions full length, Burning the Winner, helped me realize this thread of fearlessness. Burning the Winner is full of slowly cooked songs, which rest on a foundation of discord and fragmented riffs. Every song on the album bypasses the 3 minute pop structure, allowing the listener to sink deeper into the world of the song. In that sense (the approach to listening) it feels closer to a noise record. Hearing this grit and integrity, come out of a city famous for having neither characteristic, puts a smile on my face and makes my morning commute across town a little easier.

"Burning The Winner" in Playback Magazine
The Transmissions deliver a debut album that is full of eccentric, eerie rock and eludes every pigeonhole I tried to squeeze it into. The songs are rife with jazzy, kinetic guitar work and wailing vocals, at times bordering on a new wave sound. For some reason this just seems like music for a David Lynch film

OC WEEKLY Article:

Excerpt from article in LooseRecord on The Central Second collective and one of it's members, The Transmissions:

When I was young, my mom had several Toulouse-Lautrec prints that hung on a wall next to her bedroom window. My favorites were the paintings of Vaudeville and the cabaret. Cafes and saloons filled with bohemians, artists and absinthe. As I am waiting for The Transmissions to set up I see someone who (with the additional penchant for punk rock) could have walked right out of one of those paintings.

To say that he began setting up several pedal boards of effects would be an understatement. Once the band is about to begin, the stage has transformed into what looks like the inside of my computer. But for the next 45 minutes, he and the rest of The Transmissions put on a show that reinforces why I describe them as the best band to see in L.A. Their energy is similar to what The Mars Volta brings to its audience. There are moments of riotous, memorable guitar riffs that transition into hypnotic bass lines, haunting vocals and the perpetual heartbeat of drums that eventually swells each song back into splendorous fervor. Christian Bienne, lead vocals and guitar, has remarkable stage presence. With the subtlety of a flamethrower he, Josh Solberg (bass) and Denise Duncan (drums) succeed at what many bands strive to achieve, but fall short of; The art of the spectacle. To take raw, uncontrolled energy, contain it just at the point before all hell breaks loose and turn it into something inherently beautiful. If accomplished, the audience is yours. If not, you’d better have Jared Leto and an infectious new trend to fall back on. Fortunately, The Transmissions need not count on the latter.

Latest Reviews:

Excerpt of "Over Wires" review from Performer Magazine:

The Transmissions have a large, dreamy sound that isn't afraid to explore the far reaches of their musical talents or imaginations. This is "high-calorie" music, so to speak. The selling points on Over Wires are the whimsical, eccentric lyrics and the usually distorted guitar parts, which could even go so far as to be described as creating a traveling or stumbling feeling of sorts. **** "Traffic" is representative of most of the songs on the album. Relying much more heavily on the instruments, with a light sprinkling of vocals, it recalls some of Radiohead's earlier techniques. The guitars are psychedelic and spread out, creating an impressively full sound. Another attractive quality is the overpowering, almost luscious sound of the album. There's no way to go wrong with music that is so big and rich you can sink your teeth into it like a decadent dessert. Enter "Haunt All Living Things." Easily the most powerful song Over Wires features, it is powerful and calming at the same time, while using rather dark lyrics that manage to avoid being cheesy. Fall asleep to this song for strange dreams. The Transmissions have the market cornered on eliciting any repressed emotions one may be dealing with. As emotionally-charged as this album is, it's sure to give your heart a workout.

"Over Wires" review from Smother.net:

Hard and hefty post-punk with plenty of attitude and loads of entertaining hooks, “Over Wires” is a superb debut for Los Angeles-based outfit The Transmissions. Vocally it can be a throw back to David Byrne and the Warholin’ of ‘80’s alternative rock bands. Chord changing and poignant distortion is the territory of the guitars that can be as loud as Sonic Youth but as melodic as the Cure. Garage punk has been taking a turn for the worse recently at least in the mainstream but The Transmissions manage to steer it back on course nicely. (3/15/06)

"Over Wires" review from Grave Concerns:

When the term "post-punk" is bandied about these days, the recent wave of countless heavily Joy Division inspired bands springs to mind. However, while there's a bit of that here, The Transmissions largely skirt that comparison on their full-length debut, On Wires. Christian Biel's vocal work sometimes has a timbre remotely reminiscent of, and a slight warble a la, PIL-era John Lydon, while the music ranges from bouncy, rhythmically interesting alt rock to moody, guttural ballads to punchy bass and noisy guitar recalling Bauhaus's more diverse later work. The resulting blend of late-70s/80s rock/post-punk with 90s alt rock and grunge elements is both musically interesting and captivating.
The disc's moody guitar ballads are certainly among its best tracks. "Haunt All Living Things" is a particularly lovely mellow offering, while "Idle" and "Thor for Odin" both explode with unexpected rock intensity. Other notable songs include the bouncy bass groove-driven opener, "Traffic", the dreamy alt rock of "The Magus", and the spacey guitar and intense rock stabs of "Devil Song".
While The Transmissions' Over Wires is a bit of a retro throwback, it's also relatively original. Both diverse and consistent, it's an album that's highly melodic but also nicely left of center, featuring interesting songwriting and an occasional underlying quirkiness. Anyone looking for something of a foray into retro post-punk that's a bit different from the modern norm should give this one a try. (3/30/06)

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Reviews:

Full review from Screaming Bloody Mess 4-5-04

Stop start/herky jerky indie rock that brings to mind early Modest Mouse, (who I bet they are tired of being compared to), but then maybe with a slightly more new wave punky feel. The best of the four songs on offer here is the last Idle which starts slow with a simple guitar line and builds behind the singers cool vocals before breaking into a more poppy jam. Green Arke shows lots of promise for the relatively unknown group and don’t be surprised if their next release gets onto a bigger indie, something like Merge, perhaps. Hey I’m no A&R dude, but I do like this release.

Excerpt from review posted on Indieworkshop.com 3-18-04

...And now I have to backtrack. Because I listened to this little number again. And now I like it. What’s up with that? I guess it boils down to the concept that good things sometimes take a while to grow on you. I mean, the first time I heard the Shins I wasn’t so sure I liked it. And there’s a comparison here to be made because the transmissions have a somewhat similar appeal. It changes everything as well, when your listening time is capped off with a lovely bong hit or two. You know what I’m talking about. The stickiness. Hey! Have I mentioned anything about music yet? Cause this is supposed to be a review of that Transmission CD. Ahhhhh. This stuff makes you feel kind of mellow. Have you had a hit of the transmissions? Its creeper shit dude. Sneaks up on you. Sometimes that’s the best shit. It doesn’t have to always look like a winner. Sometimes it’s sneaky?.you know, low production values,?.a bit tinny?. and yet, frequency-wise? wow! It just slowly sweeps on in until you’re like?YEAH! I’m feeling this shit. It’s totally kicking in. can we get more of this?

 

Excerpt from review in Delusions of Adequacy on 3-8-04

At times, California's darling The Transmissions strut and pout as if they were from DC, kicking it with the roster of Dischord Records, and at other times they freak out like they were born from the same scene as Modest Mouse. It's a lot of ground to cover in just four tracks, but considering the scope of this EP, The Transmissions manage fairly well. The vocals beg an immediate comparison to Guy Picatto of Fugazi. Yet often they invoke a sing/speak quality very much like that used by bands like the Van Pelt and The Lapse. Yet the group manages to shake off mere emulation status with some dark and moody rock songs of their own that are more unique than imitation.

The most surprising aspect of this disc is that it is apparently self-released. Usually that quality is a sure sign of mediocrity. The Transmissions' Green Arke shows lots of promise for the relatively unknown group. I'd keep an ear out for them to move on to bigger and better things.

Excerpt from review in Splendid 3-10-04

Whether you call their sound slowcore, math rock, post-rock or anything else, it's clear that The Transmissions have a strong vision for their future. On the basis of this material, they clearly have more (and more impressive) material in store for us. -- Mark Hoffmann



Excerpt from review in Stylus Magazine 1-30-04

"...the CD seems like it’s been smuggled out of a Sudanese prison by a socioethnomusicologist for Amnesty International..."

Excerpt from review of Green Arke EP posted on 1/2/2004 on Evilsponge.com 

"It is definitely very solid. The band is clearly quite competent at their instruments and, despite the overt musical influences [Modest Mouse], it's clear they know how to craft a melody and then execute it."

Overall Rating: 4 Sponges = "...fans of the given artist/genre will think is 'tha bomb'." 

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REVIEWS OF TRACKS FROM OUR 1st EP ON JERRY HARRISON'S GARAGEBAND.COM

These reviews are posted from music listeners all over the world who are RANDOMLY assigned tracks to listen to and review on Garageband.com

LOVE THIS TRACK
I'm only forty seconds into this track and I'm already floored. What a great song both instrumentally and vocally. I'm reminded of the Stooges...Iggy would be proud. As for mood, rythm and sound, it all works together perfectly. It's so good to hear something that goes against the grain of what we are used to hearing. Way to take influences from the great artists of rock and roll history and making it your own. (Reviewed by Sknny) UNITED KINGDOM

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VERY BRITISH
Cool mood. I like this song a lot and its very "in" right now with The Vines and The Hives doing well. Nice lyrics. The production is good and it sounds great all around. This is the best song I've reviewed so far. Excellent job and good luck. (Reviewed by jwheels) NEW YORK

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I WISH I WROTE THIS...
hell yeah! i love the guitar work. vocals are great. and the beat and the bass line rock. kind of reminds me od the verve. good lyrics. i hope to hear more of you guys. good luck. (Reviewed by laclaire) ATHENS, GA