Militia
2006
Hello, Control
About This Album
Cleveland's Brandtson have built a career on a passionate concoction of guitar-driven, emo-tinged indie rock. However, when their bass player parted ways with the quartet in the summer of 2005, the band did more than just add a new member to its ranks. Embracing the change (and their new bassist's electronic background), the guys entered the songwriting process armed with a new vision for themselves, looking past the standard rock structure of past efforts. Thus, placed among Brandtson's back catalog, the resulting Hello, Control stands out as a significantly different sounding and dance-ready album for late nights and the subsequent early mornings after. The sparse opener, "A Thousand Years," relies on a soft, dreamy landscape with underlying synths, and hints at a slower version of what's to come ahead. Things kick into high gear next with the scene attack of "Nobody Dances Anymore" -- a seriously fun, attitude-fueled dance-punk track complete with vocoder that presumably reveals the primary reason for indulging in the electro, booty-shaking side of things. For every party track, however, there are also relaxing numbers like the spacy "Cold War," "Goodnight Sweet Prince," and the introspective rock of "Parallels.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,4 and 11)

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