Angel Tech - Angel Tech (Brain Gel)
4/5
By: Charlie Potter
I imagine the band have heard it all before ,but I feel strongly compelled to make an irritating amount of comparisons to The Postal Service (the band, that is - we're in no way saying that they're unreliable, keep shoddy time and far too expensive, like the other Postal Service). But it's in no way a bad thing to be compared to a great band. Not only this, but it's a very refreshing change from the much more in your face approach to the party time electro bands that are seeping out of every pore of this country at the moment. This in itself is a testament to what a promising city Bristol is at the moment, not that the city doesn't have a whole history of interesting music behind it already, but now it seems to be finally given some of the muscle it deserves with more and more bands of various genres doing their second date in Bristol.
So what's the difference between these guys and The Postal Service apart from being British? Well, to start with, they don't have quite as much experience. It does show, but that's OK - they're no less rough around the edges than the majority of small label bands. Quite the contrary in fact - the band sound as if they have been doing it forever compared to some of the banged out crud there is of its ilk, and whereas some acts sound as if they went out and bought a drum machine so they could get more trendy shows, this band sound as if they were born with drum machines in their cots and have put as much care into the use of their instruments as the most reclusive of guitar maestros.
Something the band definitely have on The Postal Service is their courageous experimentation. Not only does this mean that this album is crammed full of ideas in terms of melodies and arrangements, but it also means that they are likely to keep getting better. And that, that's exciting. To cap it off, the production's superb, having recorded in their own studio they've taken the time to put as much into the sound as the music itself. This of course is a stupid thing to say because the sound and the music are really one and the same, which is something that this band have clearly taken on board.
My biggest criticism is a small one, and it's that the singer sounds weirdly like Ian Broudie, which if you're not a fan (sorry, I'm not) can draw your attention to some of the weaker lyrics. It's in ways like this that their inexperience shows, through some of the lyrics and the occasional staleness to the vocals. But as I've said, it's minor. It's certainly not to say that Angel Tech aren't going to continue producing very strong albums. Our money's on just that.
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