Localized The decade in local music: 2008 
 

Dallas Orbiter
Motorcycle Diagrams
(Princess Records)

The band: These five guys dared to strip away the theatricality and bombast of '70s glam rock, only to find there was something substantial underneath it after all.

The album: For anyone who thinks that all the fun of glam rock comes from the stage show and makeup, Dallas Orbiter proves that notion false. Motorcycle Diagrams sucks listeners in from the start without even a hint of eyeliner, and it's hard to shake afterward. "Hallelujah, The Jetpack Dandies" sounds like it could have been on David Bowie's Aladdin Sane or Hunky Dory, while "Ampbuzz Is For Lovers" has an ear-splitting intro that would turn Josh Homme green with envy. But what holds the gleaming, slippery, mercurial stew together is the Farfisa organ. Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd fans may cry foul, but the rest will simply listen and wonder why glam rock isn't more popular today.

If there is a common thread running among the best records of 2008, it's one of confidence, whether it was Atmosphere flirting with the mainstream, Portishead reinventing themselves after an extended break or Gary Louris stepping out on his own for the first time. Here's a look at the best of what the year had to offer:

8. Dallas Orbiter, Motorcycle Diagrams (Princess Records): Under-the-radar fivesome Dallas Orbiter could easily slip into self-parody if they didn't clearly have such a passion for smart, squealing and over-the-top guitar rock. Fans of early Pink Floyd, "Ziggy"-era David Bowie and more recent Muse albums will find much to adore here.
Key tracks: "Ampbuzz Is for Lovers," "The Damocles Files"

Dallas Orbiter
Thu., December 4, 9:00pm

Local reviewers have described Dallas Orbiter as a psychedelic, spaced-out group of retrogazers. And while there is certainly some degree of substance to those labels, the quintet can't be defined by hippie banter alone. There's a wealth of tracks from this year's Motorcycle Diagrams that condense those comparative labels and overshadow them with ingenuity. Throughout the band's album is a balance of old and new; pulsing keyboards offset gripping guitars, colliding with tasteful pop arrangements. All of which will be on display when the band hits up the Hexagon Bar Thursday night, playing with local instrumental band Build My Gallows High and Dante & the Lobster. 21+. -Chris DeLine

Your weekly guide to music on the Twin Cities' small stages

Mind bending psychedelic rock has never exactly been the Twin Cities scene’s calling card, but two bands currently gigging regularly are doing plenty to change that perception, and both are in action tonight.

Those seeking narcotized droning rock ‘n’ roll lullabies to soothe them should check out To Kill a Petty Bourgeoisie at the Turf Club—the sound of feedback is rarely this beautiful. (9 p.m., $TBD, 21+)

For a sound equally prone to flights of feedback fed fancy but more enamored of twitchy prog-rock time signatures, check out Dallas Orbiter’s space rock textures at the Hexagon Bar. It’s a win-win either way for lovers of adventurous outer fringes rock. (9 p.m., Free, 21+) -Rob van Alstyne

Dallas Orbiter
'Motorcycle Diagrams'
Princess Records

Over indulgence from aging jazz-rockers

From it’s sketchy, disjointed beginnings, punctuated drums, scattered guitar riffs and some tasty feedback, the jazz-rock offerings of Minneaplis four piece Dallas Orbiter’s third album ‘Motorcycle Diagrams’ begins it’s descent. I say descent, as the album is challenging to like in the first instance. It’s a difficult listen when the band are messing around and more comfortable to take in when they resort to comprehensible arrangements, such as on the upbeat, riff-driven ‘Amp Buzz Is For Lovers’, a more standard rock song than the jazzier offerings that crop up throughout. ‘Amp Buzz…’ has a sense of the seventies to it, of stadium rock gone indoors. The vocals aren’t exactly melodious or the melody easy to follow but there is something about it that works, however briefly.

The band are capable of broader, Mercury Rev-esque soundscapes too, such as ‘The Dawn & Jitters’, disjointed and eerie, which gives the notion of a band with a lot of ability that listening to them wouldn’t immediately suggest but a blueprint of their music would by revealing complexity and intricacy in abundance. And this is exactly the problem with Dallas Orbiter, they are far easier to respect than to enjoy. The album on the whole is overly long and generally unremarkable and by the time it’s finished it’s more of a relief than anything else.  -Steven Fanning

If you like the sound of this, then check these out?  Mercury Rev

www.princessrecords.com
www.myspace.com/subbacultcharawks

What with that synth-punk thing that seemed like it would never, ever end still hanging around in the recesses of our collective memory, you're probably right to be a little skeptical about any band that pulls in keyboards and big, snarling guitars. It's a response conditioned by several years of increasingly grating and unimaginative dance-punk types. We know how it goes.

Bite down and ignore your instincts when Dallas Orbiter starts playing. If the band's keyboards and huge guitars attack vaguely shoehorns it into the dance-punk dance memories, it's only because you're seeing it in black and white and not with your ears. Instead of glitchy disco-punk or that weird synth-pop thing favored by pop-punk fanatics, Motorcycle Diagrams revs up its engines for nothing short of all-out rock. In Dallas Orbiter's hands, the union of electronics and rock guitars isn't a novel gimmick, but a forgone conclusion we should have all arrived at a long, long time ago.

So just get over the guitars and spacey sounds thing already. Dallas Orbiter's been doing this for years (even if it toiled in all but the most impenetrable obscurity) and knows how to approach its electro-rock hybrid: as songwriters. Again, that's probably a shock after seeing so many of the band's contemporaries rely upon the collision of organic and electronic elements to get them by. The band boasts the sort of well groomed vocals that'll draw the band comparisons to Death Cab, but the indie-pop comparisons end there. Motorcycle Diagrams is in love with the sort of guitars set to rattle the floors and leave your ears ringing. "Ampbuzz is for Lovers" and "The Damocles File" borrow the haze from early Jesus and Mary Chain albums, although the band's crunched-out, muscular guitars hint at '90s Midwestern bands like Honcho Overload and, to a lesser degree, Hum. "Bzzjh" is a full-blown digitized psychedelic freak-out, with manic drums beating away at keyboards screeching a sci-fi horror melody as guitar and bass churn in the song's underbelly. "New Chrome" momentarily sets down the traditional instruments for a bit of indie-tronica, albeit a wild-eyed and dangerous brand of indie-tronica, and "The Dawn and Jitters" goes the same route. Both exclusively electronic tracks aren't nearly as forceful as the act's more varied instrumentation.

Even in 2008, we're very, very slowly closing the gap that separates electronics and traditional bands. That's a heck of a shame for Dallas Orbiter, as Motorcycle Diagrams just might be one of our possible, and far-flung, rock futures. -Matt Schild

Dallas Orbiter
Motorcycle Diagrams

There is a strange fusion of electronic fuzz-rock on Motorcycle Diagrams that is timeless and intriguing. One part Modest Mouse and one part Minus the Bear with a dash of psychedelic undertones, the record begins without much fanfare and finally gets good with the fourth track Stabbed By Grace. The group finally gets out of its low-key meanderings and breaks into some melodious songwriting.

Dallas Orbiter has some great songs on this record, and equally terrible ones as well. If you started this record from the fourth track on, you would hear a relaxed blend of sugary electronic pop that sets the mood for a quiet evening at home, of course this does not last long. The group seems to have a noisy side as well that just has to be heard and IS heard a little too much to make this a cohesive effort. On the track Bzzjh, the group jams around in for a couple of minutes and accomplishes nothing except mashing the keys on the organ and breaking up the flow of the previous couple of tracks.

The album then jumps around again, and heads back into a delightful music pattern, which unfortunately includes more noodling on the piano. I am left bewildered and shaking my head, this is something that could have been truly wonderful, but instead is ruined by screwball antics. This record is for you folks who like your pop music strange, and full of musical misbehavior. Otherwise, if you cannot take music that has no real direction this may be one to skip altogether.

RIYL: Beck, Modest Mouse, Alternative Space Rock

Adam J. Pugh

The opening song of Motorcycle Diagrams is "Caspian." This is one of my favorite songs off of the album. It sounds alot like a Vampire Weekend song yet somehow much more subversive and more enjoyable. Less cohesive songs like "Ampbuzz is For Lovers" and "Maybe Soon The Lakeflies" take away from the otherwise good experience that is the album. But, where those fall short songs like "Stabbed By Grace" and  "The Damocles File" not only make-up for the weaker efforts but also make this album one to remember. "Stabbed By Grace" shows their lyrical prowess when they belt out saying like "Nobody Honest Can Really Sleep Anymore." "The Damocles File" is by far the most accessible of the set. Containing catchy up-beat melodies it has a certain intangible that makes it easy to enjoy.

Overall Dallas Orbiter made a damn good album. Motorcycle Diagrams surpasses other albums of the genre. At the same time while it is very good it will not bring anything but more cult success to Dallas Orbiter. So for now all this album is, is another cult album that deserves much more attention than it will get.

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Even though eclectic group Dallas Orbiter mainly dabble in otherworldly art-rock territory previously explored by the likes of Radiohead, Talking Heads, and Grandaddy, the Minneapolis-based quintet incorporates stylistic touches from jazz, funk, and trip-hop to create a listening experience that’s both exhilarating and disorienting in a single song.

Like most groups who create music with a tinge of the avant-garde, Dallas Orbiter’s latest album, Motorcycle Diagrams, tries to throw its listeners a few sonic curveballs, most notably on the opening track “Caspian” and instrumental freak-out “Bzzjh”. (Don’t ask me how to pronounce that). From there, Motorcycle Diagrams consists of beautifully hallucinogenic ballads (“Brow Of Zeus”, “The Dawn & Jitters”) and quirky, upbeat rockers (“Ambuzz Is For Lovers”, “The Damocles File”). While the artful detours, like on the haunted-house beginning of “Maybe Soon The Lakeflies”, don’t really lead the listener to newfound paths, Motorcycle Diagrams has enough strong, consistent songwriting overall to make the album a worthwhile ride.

The album begins with “Caspian”, a track which sounds like the mutant sibling of Radiohead’s “Airbag” and one of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s false-start-freak-out-the-listener album openers. “Caspian” has such diverse touches as call-and-response guitar licks, a syncopated bass line, herky-jerky start-stop drumming, and a deliberately over-distorted vocal. The end result of all these techniques is utter confusion, but also curiosity. The rhythm section eventually establishes a groove which sounds like chaos theory come to life, as swells of feedback firmly entrench themselves in the background. It's a little disappointing that “Caspian” sputters to an anti-climatic end, but it doesn't do so before piquing the listener’s intrigue.

Dallas Orbiter then rewards those who are still captivated by launching into the sci-fi camp and dingy garage-rock of “Ampbuzz Is For Lovers”. At first, the track’s dissonant half-steps suggest another space oddity of some kind, but, shortly thereafter, “Ampbuzz” explodes into a raw, grungy guitar riff. The song still retains the edge of “Caspian”, but this time there’s equal amounts of tension and release. The former arrivesin the form of a gnarly keyboard solo and the latter re-establishes itself every time the guitars dig their heels into the song’s refrain. Elsewhere, “The Dawn and Jitters” either coolly invents the space reggae genre, or, more likely, adeptly adapts the funky art-rock chill of TV On The Radio and “Stabbed By Grace” combines a smooth, lounge-like atmosphere (particularly worth pointing out is the sliding bass line) with an uplifting, ethereal chorus.

Those invigorating motifs are what Dallas Orbiter do best, and Motorcycle Diagrams reaches its peak with a song called “The Damocles File”. The waves of keyboard arpeggios should have fans of Grandaddy smiling and nodding while the sharp, staccato rhythms will have everyone else heading straight for the dance floor. Structurally, “File” is standard, verse-chorus-verse pop song for the most part, but Dallas Orbiter’s tight playing still make it thrilling to hear. A couple of brief instrumental breakdown aptly demonstrate the jazz influence which occasionally creeps into the quintet’s music (see also the dub-reggae bass lines that crop up on tracks like “Pigeon”).

Of course, every peak has its valley, and while Dallas Orbiter don’t really lose the momentum gained by “The Damocles File”, they don’t quite keep up with it either. “New Chrome” has a nifty, Devo-esque, nervous twitch to it, but songs can’t sustain themselves on quirk alone. “Hallelujah, The Jetpack Dancer” fairs much better, as it recalls a doo-wop song covered by Ziggy Stardust-era David Bowie. Finally, “Meet You” closes Motorcycle Diagrams on an excellently epic note. The song begins with the kind of ambient atmospherics inherent in a Sigur Ros song, but then pivots to extended, heavy, but still experimental, jamming; Stoners should approve highly.

Though Motorcycle Diagrams is neither a musical miracle, nor simply psychedelia, Dallas Orbiter show enough promise to keep curious listeners interested. -Jonathan Graef

Missing the scene
Former UW-O students, Minneapolis-based Dallas Orbiter talk transition to big city
by Ryan Rougeux of the Advance-Titan

For most area bands, dreams of one day leaving their Oshkosh basements to sign to a major label and ride waves of stardom from continent to continent dominate. But for the ageing, five-piece rock ensemble, Dallas Orbiter, leaving their Oshkosh basement led to more modest ambitions as the band members are now approaching their mid-30s.

“At this point, it isn’t really about being on American Idol or getting on the Warped Tour,” Mark Miller, guitarist and vocalist for Dallas Orbiter, said. 

The band brings a modern fusion of acid and glam rock that is filled out by a wall of guitar effects and layers of synthesizer.

“There is some 70’s stuff like Bowie and T. Rex, that kind of thing,” said Miller.

Local artist, Jeremiah Nelson, has played with the band on a few occasions. Although Nelson traditionally plays a more stripped down show than Dallas Orbiter, he likes performing with the band. 

“They have a lot of well-written rock songs with lots of quarks and a psychedelic flair to it,” said Nelson. “It is all drilled into your face with a bunch of crazy effects. Tons of effects and lots of swirly guitars.” 

For Dallas Orbiter, the venue largely dictates how the band will execute its performance.

“When we do shows at smaller clubs we’ll play more covers, or if the PA stinks. We know if we play too loud, we’ll just piss people off,” drummer Greg Flanagan said. “Our live shows are a bit louder than the albums would imply.”

The members of Dallas Orbiter attended classes at UW-Oshkosh in the late 90s and now reside in Minneapolis where they continue to make music out of a basement, playing as many shows as the weekend allows.

“We are all too old to hop in a van and go on tour, and too young to give it up,” Flanagan said. “I realistically don’t think that we could go on tour for more than a week and it is hard to make enough money to even sustain a tour.”

Unlike Oshkosh, the Minneapolis music scene offers an extensive variety of clubs and venues for bands to play. But with such a large population, Dallas Orbiter finds it difficult to stand out in such an overwhelmingly large pool of artists.

“In Oshkosh, people go out and if it is their friend’s band, they’re excited to be there and they make it a fun show,” said Flanagan. “In Minneapolis, there is a great musician community, but all the musicians are playing out in one of the 50 places to play at, so it is a little harder to get a lot of people to come out to a show.”

The band also finds that Minneapolis residents are harder to impress.

“I think part of it is that the twin cities are so big and have so many bands that people get option paralysis. They don’t know what shows to go to, and if they do go, they just stand around like they are waiting to be impressed,” Flanagan said. 

Since the members of Dallas Orbiter took up residence in Minneapolis, several of the Oshkosh venues that they frequented have stopped bringing in bands or have shut down completely. 

“When I was there, Barney’s was the big place to play. It was across from North Scott Hall. Now I think there is a Jimmy John’s there,” Flanagan said.

Although the musical landscape for Oshkosh has narrowed, Miller does not attribute the blame to a lack of good musicians.

“There are still a lot of really good bands in Oshkosh,” Miller said.  “I don’t think it has anything to do with the bands, I think it is just business.”

Although the band has no immediate plans to make a jump at anything larger, Dallas Orbiter plans to release albums and enjoy the comfort of being a mostly studio band.

On this night, the band was space rock-ish, but pretty funky (and lead singer Mark Miller writes killer—and I mean killer—hooks). The songs were all at their core, pop songs, but they had been tweaked, prodded and had additions built onto them, giving each song its own rich texture and undeniable magnetism. They played a few songs from their 2004 debut, Magnesium Fireflies, as well, and while those songs were enjoyable, they didn’t entrance me like the songs from Diagrams, did.

The instrumentation was interesting to say the least. It included an organ, a synthesizer and the usual guitar, bass, drums, etc. but the whole was more than the sum of its parts. Everything was used in near-perfect fashion, from the weirdo, almost timeless looking film that played on the screen behind them—Magritte and Dali paintings come to life and invading that old MTV show "Liquid Television"—to the instruments themselves. There were big organ flourishes here and there and the occasional random guitar struck in the middle of everything, but nothing came off as showy or forced, it just seemed like exactly the right the thing at exactly the right time, much like Dallas Orbiter themselves could be in the coming months. - Pat O'Brien

Dallas Orbiter

Local space rockers Dallas Orbiter have issued their second proper album, "Motorcycle Diagrams," and it's a must-have for fans of psychedelic pop songs and squealing, noisy guitars. The band debuts it to the public tonight with a CD-release gig at the Varsity. Ouija Radio, the Chambermaids and Daughters of the Sun open.

The five guys in Dallas Orbiter are clearly record collectors, as they dig much deeper for inspiration than the last Flaming Lips album. They recall various acts and eras with obvious affection and fill the disc with sly nods to everyone from Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd ("Pigeon") to pianist and David Bowie collaborator Mike Garson ("The Damocles Files," the most immediately likable track on the album) to over-the-top British trio Muse ("Ampbuzz Is for Lovers"). But they rarely sound derivative, which again is a feat when so many similar acts are content to merely replicate what worked in the past. - ROSS RAIHALA

Dallas Orbiter runs circles around the Varsity on Friday to celebrate the nifty new Motorcycle Diagrams.

If music could shimmer, Dallas Orbiter's surely would. They take Aladdin Sane-era Bowie glam and tweak it a little (though they don't wear the skintight bodysuits, for better or worse), and mix in a healthy dose of Detroit garage rock. It's definitely dolled-up, but it doesn't seem like an affectation nor does it seem that the band is putting on airs. They temper their act with enough Queens of the Stone Age-esque swagger that would-be detractors have to dig pretty deep to take issue with much of it. The band is well-served by the workhorse quality present on their latest, Motorcycle Diagrams. Without coming across as too playful or wacky, the disc delivers just the right amount of fun. Openers Ouija Radio have a sound reminiscent of Missing Persons on amphetamines and are just as fun to watch, as their shows often end in hedonistic debauchery. Led by singer/badass Christy Hunt, Ouija Radio should be on everyone's short list for breakout artists in '08.With the Chambermaids and Daughters of the Sun.18+. $5. 9:00 p.m. 1308 Fourth St. SE, Minneapolis; 612.604.0222. —Pat O'Brien