Trans Am "Sex Change" (2007)

Trans Am has always been a predominantly instrumental band that plays ironic sounds unironically. They're a perfect example of a modern "cult" band; they have a large following and make most of their money touring, existing largely outside the weblog-and-myspace-driven word of mouth which propels most indie-label, rock-based music these days. The group consciously limited their sound this time around, after taking a two year hiatus. Sex Change was recorded in Auckland, New Zealand at a recording school with equipment on loan by the brilliant Chris Knox, then later in Brooklyn at Oneida's headquarters without their usual array of vocoders or any of their regular gear. Easily their best album since 2000's Red Line [iTunes], Sex Change is typically eclectic but pushes their sound further towards '70s stadium prog, keyboard-driven Krautrock, shredding '80s rock, John Carpenter soundtracks from the late 1970s, super clean and mellow funk-rock, and whatever you call the kind of music they play behind sports play-by-plays. [MySpace here] [iTunes here].