Emotionalpunk.com
Media Review
Music Quality: 10.0
Production: 8.5
Originality: 10.0
Tracklisting
2. Heart Attack
3. Highway Parking Lot
4. Easy Life
5. If You Die
6. Two Sides
7. Long Day
8. Maybe We’re Dead
9. Pyromaniac
10. Devil's Suitcase
There’s something about the dehydrated, plainness the rock scene has found itself in lately that really prevents one from discovering anything truly refreshing, and truly resonating. On their debut, “Automatic City,” filled with 10 discretionary rock jams about the mind-numbing, soul-hunting structure of Los Angeles, Controlling The Famous fill the scene with hope. Drawing on influences from singer Max Hellman’s favorite bands Pinback (and Three Mile Pilot) as well as some of my favorite bands Minus The Bear and Fugazi, Controlling The Famous’ style is one that you can’t quite nail down—but it’s strikingly accessible to an array of music listeners. Catchy and vivid, I wouldn’t hesitate to call this the most exciting debut of 2006.
Early last year, I stumbled across Los Angeles’ rock act Controlling The Famous, quickly finding myself adoring their accessible, intuitive single, “Easy Life” from their latest EP (yes, the "I want the easy life, I want to fuck in the sun" song). As time would pass, rumors would also—that this band was being approached by major labels, for example. And, as time would tell, Controlling The Famous would become one of my favorite bands. Live, the band is something to be witnessed—personally, I’ve seen them some 8 times in the last year and it’s never a dull moment. And on record? To a lot of today’s music fans, “Automatic City” might sound a bit buried, a bit raw, and even in need of a little tarnishing. But, to those of us who are generally a bit bored with the super-produced artists in today’s market (which, incidentally, are sprouting like wildfire), the production (by producer Alex Newport) on this record seems only fitting. In fact, CTF even had Newport pull the brakes a little bit on the production knobs—they wanted the record to sound this way.
As with the many choruses on this record, none of them are anything but entirely memorable: “The highway parking lot doesn’t seem to make any sense!!!” singer Max Hellman shouts with fury on the appropriate "Highway Parking Lot" track. Or, on the song that seems to comment on the workforce, "Long Day," Hellman attacks with the wonderful "I'll plummet to the sky, to watch over life...it doesn't matter why, it's been a long day.." Despite its raw, unrefined nature, “Automatic City” is undeniably catchy. Each song has a soaring, memorable chorus that you can’t forget—and, somehow, appear in such a way that they don’t get old.
Controlling The Famous’ strength, however, is in their arresting technical prowess. Off-kilter rhythms, bantering vocal melodies from singer Hellman and partner Johnny Collins, and an essential rhythm section from bassist Brendan Hughes and drummer Mike Schneider. Clean guitars frequent the disc—clever, organic guitars are constantly tapping, pulling, and scattering themselves. Still, in the face of such a technical, complex sound, the band is incredibly tight and well-knit—never sounding sloppy. The creative progressions on the 10 songs on “Automatic City” create a sense of fluidity—nothing really sticks out in a negative (or positive) way.
Perhaps the irony of the impressionable, likable nature of “Automatic City” lies in the fact that the listener can’t pin down, specifically, what is to love about it. To call “Automatic City” a refreshing, rejuvenating record in today’s dry rock scene is a complete understatement—I just can’t wait to see what they’ll come up with next time.