Denver, CO's Mustangs And Madras have crafted an interesting debut with their self-titled CD-R EP, an album that harkens back to some of the more well-respected acts of the mid-90's post-hardcore genre with a few creative strides running through it.

Certainly the band's indie rock / aforementioned sound is that of the At The Drive-In variety, vocal interplay especially, but there's some serious Braid and Texas Is The Reason influences to be found on the EP as well. The most directly obvious points of this are two respective points in the disc. Besides the rising action of its latter section, the beginning of "Ides," a rather swell, more mid-tempo offering reminiscent of any evenly tempoed moment on ATDI's Vaya, has a quick lo-fi drum fill that switches back to the standard sound quality of the disc after a few seconds. If you're thinking "The New Nathan Detroits" (Braid here), you're probably in the majority. Just under 2 minutes into opener "Some May Call It A Train Wreck," the band makes an abrupt transition to some rather emotionally-charged guitars with a strum eerily similar to that of TITR's "Antique;" I'm half-expecting Garrett Klahn to yell "you act like I don't know my own way home!" when they come through the speakers. Outside of these moments the band manages to smooth out the influences and further acts of practical plagarism are nowhere to be found.

Lead singer Nick Krier also handles sax duties for some of the songs, and it's actually implemented smoothly. While more noise-oriented bands like the Plot To Blow Up The Eiffel Tower will fit in more disconnected, upbeat jazzy bars with the instrument, it's more light and bluesy here, and thus fits well with the album's mood, notably in "I Hope He's Not Carlos," or paced and still fluttering as in "The Auction."

Mustangs And Madras is instant proof of a band's potential, but it has a fair amount of immediate enjoyment going for it as well.

MP3s
For The Drive
Ides