Trans Am

The roots of drone-y, stoner-y, orchestral “post-rock” run through Tortoise, Slint, Talk Talk, PiL, and, like most things, all the way back to the Velvet Underground’s extended noise jams. But, at least since the mid-90s, Maryland’s Trans Am has been keeping the flame alive, whipping elements of new wave, experimental rock, synth-pop, folk, and God-knows-what-else together into some stew of mercurial post-post-rock. In September 2011, Thrill Jockey re-released Trans Am’s 1999 vocoder- and synth-heavy record Futureworld, and the band set out on a short East Coast jaunt playing that album in its entirety. Good news for people who like to yell out, “Play Cocaine Computer!” at concerts.

Updated 09/22/2011