Triclops! - "Out of Africa"

Triclops! - March of the Half-Babies (Alternative Tentacles 2008)

Triclops! - Out of Africa / Alternative Tentacles

And so we move from one take on Africa to another: Triclops! is a group that has been on Audiversity's radar since the Cafeteria Brutalia EP in February of 2007 (though the San Francisco quartet had already been playing together since late '04). That EP's squalling punk was another variant on the bloodlines of Drive Like Jehu: It changed time signatures faster than a Tissot on speed; it barked and twisted louder than Cedric Bixler-Zavala with half the ear-splitting octaves; it clearly rocked, but it also left moments of fresh air (the 10-minute "Bug Bomb" being the prime example). It was not a suffocating EP, but then it also hardly sounded like an EP at nearly 30 minutes. Triclops! was a band with members in the punk scene who were not afraid of longer songs or more complicated structures, but they still packed the fury of every three-chord amateur still mastering "God Save the Queen."

Yet for all that fawning, Cafeteria Brutalia never actually got a review here. It was quietly tucked away as another name to drop for comparisons in future reviews and Triclops! became another "band to watch" with nothing other than instinct to back us up. Their debut full-length on Alternative Tentacles arrived a few weeks ago to put the matter to rest. If you haven't heard or heard of this band, consider this a formal introduction: Clocking in at seven songs and nearly 40 minutes, Out of Africa is a tight, acerbic set of songs from a band that clearly knows what it's doing.

The initial reaction to the driving militancy powering "March of the Half-Babies" is that this might sound like a punk-rock African heaven: Former Fleshies man John No (aka Johnny No Moniker) pitch-shifts his vocals to alien-like levels and the powering drums of Phil Becker might have you thinking of Robert Mugabe if he'd been abducted and used by UFOs for the better of Zimbabwe. Man, Robert Mugabe as good for Zimbabwe. Has anyone thought that in the last 15 years?

"Iraqi Curator," "Freedom Tickler," and "Cassava" are among the songs that make allusions to the lack of responsibility in the American government concerning the Middle East. What's interesting, of course, is that Out of Africa contains only one direct reference to the continent itself: The title song "Duende War (Out of Africa)." Aside from the specific lament on "Iraqi Curator," the rest are filtered through political abstractions that aren't limited by borders... Or by coherency, walking a fine line between sharp stream-of-conscious rants and big-word political drivel that so often bogs down albums of this nature.

Despite the serious topics of Guantanamo and social consciousness, Lee Harvey Roswell's cover-art featuring minotaurs with Patch Adams noses indicates that the group also have a sense of humor. That's the best part of this album. "Well how d'ya like them apples?" No blurts in a pause on "Iraqi Curator." This is the other beam that Triclops! balances: punk-rock pulpitry with out-and-out fun. Sure, they're full of venom. But they also know how and, more importantly, when to spit it. "Secret 93" still has the high-pitched calls of another Johnny - Whitney from The Blood Brothers - but it also brings out some of that lazy drawl akin to The Fall that kept cropping up on the EP.

The music holds up its end of the bargain. Cleverly avoiding dumbed-down anthems yet still providing the requisite memorable licks to make this record stand out, the band relies on the touchstones of the louder side of 90s indie-rock. What's absent here - and what left me puzzled listening to it initially - is the lack of actual African influence. I don't know why I hoisted such lofty expectations on Triclops! to break through with some kind of visionary marrabenta post-hardcore - maybe this goes back to my own recent obsession with all things musically African - but perhaps it just sounds too domestic, maybe a little too straightforward.

Which is funny, because a quick peek around to see what other people are saying shows that popular opinion so far as the Internet is concerned would have you believe the opposite. Don't fall for it. For everyone who's read how Triclops! is a band heedlessly mining the same shafts of other psychedelically influenced punk groups to great self-fellating effect, consider this review the counterweight. I don't think Out of Africa goes far enough with its pedal-infested guitars and distorted vocal manipulations. I don't think the minds of the band's four members have been properly mined yet. All of these guys are clearly bloody talented, and it's easy to forget that this is really only their first album together. But what happens when a punk band travels beyond the Western world? What happens when acid and psych become limits rather than open doors to new frontiers? What happens when they discover benga or hiplife or soukous? These are the questions I think Triclops! have the answers to. Even if they never properly deliver them, I believe in them anyway. Even if they aren't going anywhere near that direction, I believe. For this album and all the potential it holds, I believe. More than anything else, that is what makes Out of Africa so special.