Artist: the touques

The Touques latest self-titled EP is my first foray into their brand of eclectic syncopated music. The Reno, Nevada trio has changed slightly over the past few years and their music reflects it. During the first couple of playthroughs I found it difficult to latch or on relate to the type of music they were conveying. In immediacy the focus felt sparse and confusing. The first song to shed some light as to their insight was 'White Elephant (Settling)'. It sounds like a three minute intermission with chorus guitars and background conversation. This ambient atmospheric moment was a lens into [...]

• The Touques - Roy Stampler

As I listened to this eponymous EP from US outfit The Touques I am ashamed to say my first thought was that they sounded pretty amateurish. The guitars sounded too loud, there were tuning issues all over the place and the whole thing sounded like one big mess. But then about halfway through the record something happened; I "got" what The Touques were doing. Quite frankly, this record is just mad enough to work. Since coming to this realisation I've had the EP on repeat constantly and it gets more and more enjoyable with every listen. [...]

• The Touques - 4
• The Touques - Roy Stampler

Damn those Touques with their reverberating effect pedals and noisy Pop compositions. A revised line-up for 2009 provides punchy rawness to some already epic sounding tunes. The new self-titled EP from the Reno based trio theatrically tip-toes across genres like a travelling salesman tentatively eyeing up a hotel mini bar. Catchy hooks produce images of Muse negotiating a prearranged power cut or The Editors/Franz Ferdinand partaking in late night Eighties PowerPop exploration. [...]

• The Touques : 4 » The Torques - 4.mp3
• The Touques - Roy Stampler