Coltrane Motion

We’ve heard the term shoegaze used to describe the tunes of Coltrane Motion—even the duo itself admits to being influenced by that sound—but the music seems just a little too extroverted to fit that tag neatly. As you can hear on the new Songs About Music (Datawaslost), the pair sounds like it wants to see the audience use the floor for dancing instead of standing, and it’s hard for the crowd to take that posture when they’re quietly moping.

Originally from Ohio, Coltrane Motion (individually known as Michael Bond and Matt Dennewitz) now claims Chicago as its base of operations. While the two men may sound, on record, like obsessive techheads forever hunting down vintage synths, they still like to hit the stage in front of paying customers every once in a while. But when the studio door closes, their passion for experimenting becomes evident. There are looped drums backing up what sounds like a vintage Wurlitzer electric piano. Yes, it sounds like somebody’s homemade demo, but they did unapologetically title their 2000 debut Supa Lo-Fi!

Songs sounds slightly slicker, but not enough to hurt, as it casts glances toward 1980s dance-pop and Phil Spector (as well as Beck, to whom they’re endlessly compared). And because they’ve been known to build some of their own instruments themselves, this mad sense of invention even spills over into their live shows, where we’ve heard they often improvise songs as they go along. If they really hit their stride live, here’s hoping they remember those ad-libs the next day.