Maserati - Inventions for the New Season

2007, Temporary Residence

Style: post-rock, neo-krautrock, space rock

Holy smokes!

I’m still reeling from listening to this album all day. Temporary Residence’s site described the album as “a bloodshot, 3AM soundtrack to a Michael Mann movie that hasn’t happened yet; a sweaty, delirious mix of mid-to-late 70s Pink Floyd, German psych-rock, krautrock, and mid-80s action film scores.”

It is all of those things, and yet none of them. All of these elements are in the mix, but nothing sounds distinctly derivative from any of it. It’s a great fusion of classic prog/space/krautrock with math/post-rock. Dual guitar interplay at times reminds of modern King Crimson. Spacey atmospherics (usually with a locked-in groove moving things alone) remind of the best of instrumental Pink Floyd. Pulsing sounds and steady, repetitious percussion reminds of Neu, or Circle. One of the guitarists is from Turing Machine, a math-rock band that I like a lot but doesn’t get name-dropped very much. Elements of that band are here too, but while Turing Machine has a bit of a one-dimensional (but still great) sound, Maserati has some range.

Complaints? Well, you could complain that the compositions, while intricate, aren’t necessarily mind-bendingly complex. This would, of course, be missing the point.

I’m confused as to whether this album really is this great, or if it just hits a sweet spot for me. I get concerned when I find myself struggling to offer a critique of something. There has been high praise on the Temporary Residence forum from some people, so I know at least I’m not the only one high on it.

Expect to see this on my end-of-year top 10 list. There’s a great chance that it will be right at the top.