By: David Schultz

In March of 2007, right on the heels of a tour in support of Ten Silver Drops, The Secret Machines’ wonderful follow up to Now Here Is Nowhere, guitarist Ben Curtis quietly departed to concentrate on his own band, School Of Seven Bells. After fulfilling a couple remaining obligations, including a slot in the inaugural David Bowie curated High Line Festival, Brandon Curtis and Josh Garza didn’t exactly go into hibernation but they surely took their time plotting their next step. Bringing guitarist Phil Karnats into the fold to round out the trio, the retooled version of The Secret Machines have come out of the shop a slightly different band.

Their recently released third album, inventively called Secret Machines, is their heaviest album to date and bears the hallmarks of a carefully plotting and thought behind its creation. Never a frivolous band to begin with, Secret Machines has a ponderous heft and frightfully serious mien that makes the two prior efforts seem almost glib. The two songs that open the album, “Atomic Heels” and “Last Believer, Drop Dead,” come the closest to the Machines’ efforts with Curtis in the fold. The rest of the album bears more of an influence of Pink Floyd’s more deliberate material and Peter Gabriel’s explorations of progressive mechanical rock with the deliberate power chords and softly contrasting near-acoustic breaks of “The Walls Are Starting To Crack” and “Fire Is Waiting” bearing a distinctly Floydian flavor. Changes of directions aside, it is the Secret Machines most complete and coherent album to date.

With a new album comes the customary tour and in that vein, The Secret Machines 2.0 headlined an early evening show this past Saturday night at New York City’s Webster Hall. Playing under a post-modern Sukkoh made of white ribbons, Garza, Curtis and Karnats cranked out a variety of industrial beats, masterfully locking into a rhythm and using the freedom of the live setting to work wonders with the repetition. Playing with sticks the size of pool cues, Garza brings to mind the old school baseball players who swung bats the size of tree trunks while he wails away on the drums with a precision and efficiency that remains startling. One of the most authoritative drummers, Garza is a show unto himself and plays with such power that it’s quite possible he doesn’t need to mike his drum kit. On record and on stage, his interaction with Curtis is the lifeblood of the Machines. Curtis’ keys provide the soaring highs with and oftentimes give the Machines a cool little 80s vibe. On bass, he synchs up with Garza and plays a churning bass that sounds almost mechanical. Never a grand singer, Curtis usually delivers his vocals in a dispassionate yet compelling manner. At the beginning of “Nowhere Again” he sounded bored but on “Atomic Heels” and “Lightning Blue Eyes” he hit the perfect blend of sardonic commentary and fiery emotion.

The Webster Hall show, among the first with Karnats as an official member of the band, captured the heft and drama of Secret Machines but lacked the spark and bounce that customarily fuel the Machines’ live shows. In no small part, the subtle difference flows from the simple fact that Karnats is not Ben Curtis, not only is his style different from the younger Curtis, the role he’s filling is also not the same. Ever the nontraditional power trio, the Machines now frame their songs around Garza’s elephantine drums and Curtis’ bass, primarily relegating Karnats guitar work to providing atmosphere. Although unfair to expect the Machines and their new guitarist to immediately regain the form of the in-the-round performances that followed the release of Ten Silver Drops, the Webster Hall performance raises some doubts as to whether that will even be a concern of the band. The Machines dedicated the middle portion of the show to an aimless and dreary “Leaves Are Gone,” a sludgy and interminable version of “Fire Is Waiting” and a trippy though slow moving “The Walls Are Starting To Crack.” The entire stretch never seemed to find its true heart and at times came across as pretty boring, a rarity for The Machines.

At last year’s residency at The Annex, the Machines hewed their sets towards breaking and trying out the material that would appear on Secret Machines. On “Alone, Jealous & Stoned,” “Lightning Blue Eyes” and “First Wave Intact,” - the “encore” portion of the show (due to Webster Hall’s unfortunate early curfew, there wasn’t time to do the pro forma walk off and wait a couple minutes) – the absence of Curtis is most noticeable. Accentuating the heavy clanging bass and Garza’s enormous drum beats, Karnats has room to find his own voice among the Machines’ most well known hits, rather than imitate Curtis. Karnats’ most notable assertion occurred during a solid rendering of “Sad And Lonely” when he bent the strings and sustained the notes in the same manner as Warren Haynes during his closing solo to the song. While Karnats works his way into the Machines’ back catalog, the songs aren’t suffering but those unable to grow with the band will surely mourn Ben’s absence.

Labels: The Secret Machines