Troubadour Dali

First things first: Troubadour Dali, St. Louis’ resident neo-shoegaze minstrels are in no way just now emerging from the underground grapevine. It’s impossible to deny the band’s local pedigree after pulling down a nomination for the Riverfront Times’ St. Louis Indie Band of the Year from 2009 to 2011 (and taking the gold in 2010). Let’s Make it Right, the group’s sophomore album, has been in transit since 2009 amid lineup changes and false starts but has finally dropped on Euclid Records and makes a strong case for the old adage that some things are worth waiting for.

The band, comprised of Kevin Bachmann, Ben Hinn, Drew Bailey, Benjamin Marsh and Andy Kahn, delivers with a sound that’s equal parts dynamic, jangly rhythms and deeply psychedelic melodies. They instantly bring such aesthetic forefathers as The Brian Jonestown Massacre and Spaceman 3 to mind. However, it’s too simple, too inaccurate to throw Troubadour Dali into this box. Their music — and more specifically, Let’s Make it Right — is so consistently cohesive from track to track that the album becomes a relentlessly efficient piece of modern psychedellia.

Let’s Make it Right ebbs and flows between dreamy, syrupy vocals and soaring, psyched-out guitar leads drenched in the warmest organ this side of a southern church revival. This song melts through the speakers and oozes out the other end with enough space rock power to send you flying.

“The Prickly Fingers of Sante Muerte” is a razor sharp romp through a mind-bending haze of electric guitar fuzz and a handful of hot desert sand. “Pale Glow” exhibits what truly sets Let’s Make it Right apart from it’s shoegaze predecessors — the complex and glowing vocal harmonies add a completely new and bright dimension to the old space-rock drone.

Opening with a Doors-esque rolling guitar, “Pale Glow” quickly snowballs into a head-bobbing, fuzzed out cruise. Don’t miss the blistering guitar solo towards the end of the song. It’s the perfect combination of garage-inspired overdrive and super-slick groove.

Troubadour Dali isn’t shifting any paradigms or breaking any new ground with its newest album. Let’s Make It Right simply sets the bar ever so slightly higher for the rest of the band's St. Louis contemporaries. The melodies are sharper, the beats are more danceable and the vibe is fuzzier. If this is the end result after two years spent marinating its sound in a pressure cooker, then Troubadour Dali has stumbled onto a fantastic sonic recipe. - The Maneater

First things first: Troubadour Dali, St. Louis’ resident neo-shoegaze minstrels are in no way just now emerging from the underground grapevine. It’s impossible to deny the band’s local pedigree after pulling down a nomination for the Riverfront Times’ St. Louis Indie Band of the Year from 2009 to 2011 (and taking the gold in 2010). Let’s Make it Right, the group’s sophomore album, has been in transit since 2009 amid lineup changes and false starts but has finally dropped on Euclid Records and makes a strong case for the old adage that some things are worth waiting for.

The band, comprised of Kevin Bachmann, Ben Hinn, Drew Bailey, Benjamin Marsh and Andy Kahn, delivers with a sound that’s equal parts dynamic, jangly rhythms and deeply psychedelic melodies. They instantly bring such aesthetic forefathers as The Brian Jonestown Massacre and Spaceman 3 to mind. However, it’s too simple, too inaccurate to throw Troubadour Dali into this box. Their music — and more specifically, Let’s Make it Right — is so consistently cohesive from track to track that the album becomes a relentlessly efficient piece of modern psychedellia.

Let’s Make it Right ebbs and flows between dreamy, syrupy vocals and soaring, psyched-out guitar leads drenched in the warmest organ this side of a southern church revival. This song melts through the speakers and oozes out the other end with enough space rock power to send you flying.

“The Prickly Fingers of Sante Muerte” is a razor sharp romp through a mind-bending haze of electric guitar fuzz and a handful of hot desert sand. “Pale Glow” exhibits what truly sets Let’s Make it Right apart from it’s shoegaze predecessors — the complex and glowing vocal harmonies add a completely new and bright dimension to the old space-rock drone.

Opening with a Doors-esque rolling guitar, “Pale Glow” quickly snowballs into a head-bobbing, fuzzed out cruise. Don’t miss the blistering guitar solo towards the end of the song. It’s the perfect combination of garage-inspired overdrive and super-slick groove.

Troubadour Dali isn’t shifting any paradigms or breaking any new ground with its newest album. Let’s Make It Right simply sets the bar ever so slightly higher for the rest of the band's St. Louis contemporaries. The melodies are sharper, the beats are more danceable and the vibe is fuzzier. If this is the end result after two years spent marinating its sound in a pressure cooker, then Troubadour Dali has stumbled onto a fantastic sonic recipe. - The Maneater

"From the slap-back reverb and twangy guitars that opens the disc with "Pale Glow," the band proves its skill at setting a mood — one that is psychedelic without going too dark or too Day-Glo cheesy. Casey Bazzell places her sirenlike vocals above Ben Hinn's monochromatic, magnetic delivery, which becomes the calm in the eye of the storm, never giving ground to the swells and squalls going on around him. ”
- Riverfront Times

"From the slap-back reverb and twangy guitars that opens the disc with "Pale Glow," the band proves its skill at setting a mood — one that is psychedelic without going too dark or too Day-Glo cheesy. Casey Bazzell places her sirenlike vocals above Ben Hinn's monochromatic, magnetic delivery, which becomes the calm in the eye of the storm, never giving ground to the swells and squalls going on around him. ”
- Riverfront Times

"It’s been pointed out in the first reviews—and it’s true—that the shoegazing’s a bit more prominent in the mix this time out, and fans of, say, the last two albums of Ride, will find a comfortable place to land here, as well. While this is a lovely record, indeed, one that’s going to be in the discussion of best local albums of 2011, the group excels in the live setting, too.”
- Stl Mag

"It’s been pointed out in the first reviews—and it’s true—that the shoegazing’s a bit more prominent in the mix this time out, and fans of, say, the last two albums of Ride, will find a comfortable place to land here, as well. While this is a lovely record, indeed, one that’s going to be in the discussion of best local albums of 2011, the group excels in the live setting, too.”
- Stl Mag

File this release under "Better Late Than Never." Psych-shoegaze alchemists Troubadour Dali have gigged around town, gone through several lineup changes and now have finally released their long-awaited debut. (The self-titled disc also serves as the first release on Euclid Records' new label.) It was worth the wait: The band takes the best bits of classic rock and pop and feeds them through phasers, tape-echo machines and spring reverb units, creating a dense, swirling sound which never dulls the sharpness of the hooks.

Like the Jesus & Mary Chain's Stoned & Dethroned, this disc proves that it's possible to write smart, layered, shoegaze songs which can still inspire sing-alongs, as on the sun-streaked love song "Always." At its best, Troubadour Dali creates thick slurries of reverberating, heady psychedelia and immediately cuts through it with piercing harmonics and razor-wire guitars. The supercharged "We Are the Sun" absolutely nails this dynamic: Boy-girl vocals sing in heavenly unison, while a pinging, ringing guitar line sets a repetitious border for thick sheets of fuzz.

In other places, the album is lovably anachronistic. The band places fifteen minutes of silence after "We are the Sun," right before a ten-minute bonus track full of sitar drones, vocal chants and scattershot percussion. In the digital age, that much dead air is a waste of hard drive space, but it offers a clue to the band's reverence for the take-it-as-a-whole album format. That's not to say that every track is a winner; there's clearly a formula at work here, which creates monotony over the course of an entire record. But on Troubadour Dali, the band has staked an admirable middle ground between artful guitar sonics and direct pop songwriting.

Christian Schaeffer - Riverfront Times

File this release under "Better Late Than Never." Psych-shoegaze alchemists Troubadour Dali have gigged around town, gone through several lineup changes and now have finally released their long-awaited debut. (The self-titled disc also serves as the first release on Euclid Records' new label.) It was worth the wait: The band takes the best bits of classic rock and pop and feeds them through phasers, tape-echo machines and spring reverb units, creating a dense, swirling sound which never dulls the sharpness of the hooks.

Like the Jesus & Mary Chain's Stoned & Dethroned, this disc proves that it's possible to write smart, layered, shoegaze songs which can still inspire sing-alongs, as on the sun-streaked love song "Always." At its best, Troubadour Dali creates thick slurries of reverberating, heady psychedelia and immediately cuts through it with piercing harmonics and razor-wire guitars. The supercharged "We Are the Sun" absolutely nails this dynamic: Boy-girl vocals sing in heavenly unison, while a pinging, ringing guitar line sets a repetitious border for thick sheets of fuzz.

In other places, the album is lovably anachronistic. The band places fifteen minutes of silence after "We are the Sun," right before a ten-minute bonus track full of sitar drones, vocal chants and scattershot percussion. In the digital age, that much dead air is a waste of hard drive space, but it offers a clue to the band's reverence for the take-it-as-a-whole album format. That's not to say that every track is a winner; there's clearly a formula at work here, which creates monotony over the course of an entire record. But on Troubadour Dali, the band has staked an admirable middle ground between artful guitar sonics and direct pop songwriting.

Christian Schaeffer - Riverfront Times

Local indie pop rocksters Troubadour Dali is gearing up for its biggest performance to date. With thousands of people making their way to LouFest, it'll be the perfect time to show critics of their live show that they're the real deal. The band was named one of the RFT's top indie bands of 2011. So LouFest could very well be their coming-out party. - Metromix Saint Louis

by Beatle Bob

Troubadour Dali, one of the hardest working and fastest rising stars in the local musical firmament, has become over the past year, a group that is definitely greater than the sum of its parts. Their song list is a like a singles collection of adenoidal yearnings for sorting out youth's highs and lows. This results in a release that leaves both the casual listener looking for a soundtrack to their summer days, and those looking for more depth in their music, immensely satisfied. - InsideSTL.com

by Beatle Bob

Troubadour Dali, one of the hardest working and fastest rising stars in the local musical firmament, has become over the past year, a group that is definitely greater than the sum of its parts. Their song list is a like a singles collection of adenoidal yearnings for sorting out youth's highs and lows. This results in a release that leaves both the casual listener looking for a soundtrack to their summer days, and those looking for more depth in their music, immensely satisfied. - InsideSTL.com

by Annie Zaleski

A clever name will only take a band so far; after all, if wit isn't backed up by stellar tunes, no amount of humor can save the group from mediocrity. Thankfully local quartet Troubadour Dali (oh, the name still makes us giggle) backs up its Salvador Dalí-honoring moniker with some equally surrealistic music. Demos found on MySpace (myspace .com/troubadourdali) and a woozy, laissez-faire live show reveals a group well-versed in the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club/Brian Jonestown Massacre/Spiritualized school of reverb-'n'-feedback, with a healthy dose of Dandy Warhols drone thrown in for good measure. Dali's currently recording an EP with LaPush's Thom Donovan — which should be a match made in shoegazer heaven.

- Riverfront Times