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Reviews Tiny Mix Tapes Coming out of the lively music scene of Austin, Cue have a sound decidedly apart from that for which Austin has largely come to be known. With a level of musicianship very much in harmony with that scene, the band favors a sound more epic and sweeping than most rock and/or country acts. However, to say they have no comrades would be disingenuous, as Explosions in the Sky have been a significant presence for a few years now. What sets Cue apart from even them is the breadth and palette of sounds they employ to make their beautiful mix of classical and rock music. Of course, there are bands outside their area code that share these characteristics, and this is an indicator of why Cue is such a prime candidate for further dissemination. Their taut compositions are almost uniformly marked by a restless energy that’s unapologetically hopeful and yearning. While these songs may have a quiet/loud/quiet structure guiding them (as does most post-rock), how they construct their contrasting lulls and maelstroms is exquisite to behold. A primary force in their arsenal is the violin playing of Stacy Meshbane, an element as mutable as it is consistent. Her part serves as a melancholy anchor on "Wedding Song" and a shimmering, ethereal elements on "The Last Good Year of My Life." On "Can You See My Skeleton?," she leads the rocking charge as if squeezing out a blazing electric guitar solo, then gradually plucks her way into a sweet, graceful coda. Guest musicians provide a number of additional ingredients, oboe, double bass, trumpet, etc., keeping the album from becoming too complacent with any one sonic identity. And, as with most post-rock outfits, there’s a great rhythmic bed provided by drummer Jason Brister who deserves a gold star for keeping things solid throughout these ever-changing songs. However, only time will tell whether or not this is enough to garner Cue attention outside central Texas. For now, lucky listeners should feel privileged to be in on such a lovely secret. Click here for the full article. The Silent Ballet What would it be like if when you opened your mouth to talk-- instead of words-- music came out? I mean, picture it: late night with your lady, arm cozied up around her on the sofa as the credits roll on the pandering chic flick you rented from Blockbuster. What better way to keep the sexy going than parting your lips and seducing her with a mouthful of Hammock? Or better yet, you're barreling down the highway when some jack off in an H3 swerves into your lane causing you to slam on the brakes and spill your latte on your crotch. Nothing like catching up to him, rolling down your window, and spitting a few MoTA tracks his way. So much more gratifying than the finger. So, somewhere between sex and revenge lies happiness. And quite simply, there would be no better way to provoke that underrated emotion (come on, this is post-rock) than to open your mouth to mutter hello and instead produce a line of Cue. As your lips bend and bow to blast the enthused greeting, your friends eyes widen with immediate curiosity and delight at the foretaste of your vocal motions. Hairs shoot up on the their neck. Bells and whistles percolate in their ears and beads of sweat collect on their forehead. You get the idea: instant, overwhelming joy. Really loud joy at that. The Austin based (so-much-more-than)chamber rock quartet yank out all the stops on Wedding Song, fusing ebullient violin-led tracks with bone-rattling rock passages to create a record that bounces, skips, and sails along on post-rock hydraulics, soaring over countless other acts who teeter below on shabby, homemade stilts. Within minutes of the initial spin, we are taught the violin does not have to be a sad instrument. Tight, happy strings zing to life on “Wedding Song for Living Things and Dead Things”, an Irish-laced romp into the chamber rock world. Sounds seem to bounce off invisible walls between the artists, melding and molding into a carousal of dizzying proportions before screeching to a complete halt. Tiny bells chime in briefly, like the corner of a growing smile, before the ride blasts off again in an exhaustive, celebratory fury. The energy does everything but fade on “Can You See My Skeleton?”, where we are yet again treated to a feast of string work, before a paunch roll of percussion sweeps in in near perfect harmony, and the two take a trip down memory lane back to the minutes prior, packed with the raucous of crashing instrumental precision. The latter half of the track shifts slightly, as a piano makes a guest appearance, skimming along gentle lines and breaks, joining up with the rest of the crew. It plays out like some young summer day at the stream, skipping stones and dipping your feet in the water beside snickering friends. Simple, quaint, and yet bursting with moments that will later become pivotal memories. The disc thunders through the six remaining tracks, using the above-explained framework, slightly tweaking or moving things up or down a notch in various places to shift the compositions. Inducing a piano solo here, lining a quiet passage with a vocal harmony there, and even scattering a bit of brass in the mix. However, the key components stay the same: strong strings, balanced instrumentation, and breaks that rip through the speakers like a temporary cease fire, barely lasting long enough to catch your breath, before another (smiling) grenade erupts. Whether the repetitive song structure is a weakness or not, is up for debate. There is a large amount of diversity present in each song, but under the layers the patterns become evident after repeated listening. Regardless, the passion injected into every song on the album, every second on the disc, is impossible to ignore. Sure, this was an undertaking produced in a studio like any other, but you can't help but anticipate a surge of live applause as each track barrels to a close. The songwriting demands it. Better yet, it calls for an open mouth and a quick flick of the tongue. Just say it. CUE. And pass it on. Click here for the full article. Now Like Photographs, Radio K of Minneapolis Epic can be cheerful as Cue demonstrates on their second full length. Coming from Austin, this 4-piece uses every type of instrument imaginable to create a folk chamber sound like no other instrumental record of the week has before. From violin to glockenspiel, this orchestral outfit has a knack for never sounding hollow - always rich. Click here for the full article. Postrockerz Blogspot Dalam dunia Post Rock, apa yang pertama kali muncul dalam benak kita kalau ada kata2 Austin, Texas ? pasti EiTS, well, saya rasa ini akan sedikit berubah. Saya tidak bermaksud membandingkan Cue dengan The Great Explosions in The Sky karena dua band ini sangat berbeda. Hanya saja album ketiga dari Cue ini benar2 menyentak dan menggugah syaraf2 sampai membuat darah ini mendidih, berlebihan ? saya serahkan ke pendapat masing2. Sedikit sekali band Post Rock yang menggunakan Biola sebagai primary weapon dalam komposisi musik'nya atau sebagai leader dalam mengurai dan membuka jalan menerobos alur2 komposisi yang sedemikian kompleks. One thing comes to mind, Strangers Die Everyday. Tetapi Cue, kebalikan dari Strangers Die Everyday yang mood dan tone dari musik mereka terkesan sendu walaupun ada satu, dua track yang rock dan upbeat (Which is an awesome band too). Sedangkan Cue mood'nya dominan upbeat. Basicnya dari Chamber Rock yang memakai pondasi Quiet/Loud Post Rock, satu hal yang mungkin dapat perhatikan, String and/or Violin tidak hanya dapat menghasilkan sound2 atau musik2 yang sendu atau muram, "Wedding Song for Living Things and Dead Things" membuktikan hal ini dan menghancurkan anggapan itu. Biola yang menari - nari seperti menghindari jilatan api dibawahnya, dengan tone2 Folkish diikuti drum yang seperti mengikuti kemanapun Biola itu berjalan. Track kedua ini sudah membuktikan peran dan tempat dari biola itu berada. sebagai pemimpin. Tidak berhenti di "Can You See My Skeleton?" walaupun tarian biola agak sedikit menahan tempo, tp perhatikan gesekan2 yang kasar dan dalam yg dihasilkan, ditambah dengan piano2 yang mulai ikut berperan. Semuanya melebur menjadi satu dengan irama patah2 sesuai perintah dari Biola. "YROKROLSUKKDN2002" haha!! salah satu track yang menarik, Chaotic Explosive Folkish old Western Cowboy, dimulai dari menit 02:40 disini masing2 instrumen stand out dan saling bersahut2an menuju klimaks yang....secara mengejutkan diakhiri dengan permainan biola yang sendu senyap seakan2 bersedih karena track ini akan berakhir. "Fleur de Lis" penutup album dengan tepat! album ini lengkap, ada yang upbeat ada yang mellow seperti "Capture the Flag", "The Last Good Year of My Life", dan "Forests of Pencil Pierced Children" yang diselipkan diantara track2 yg upbeat, bukan berarti tidak menonjol, tetapi saling melengkapi dan kita seperti diajak untuk istirahat sejenak. "Fleur de Lis" ini gabungan dari upbeat dan mellow tadi. Satu lagi yang sangat menarik buat saya adalah permainan drum'nya, jarang sekali musik2 Chamber ini yang drumnya chaotic dan sangat2 bervariasi. Kalau Biola pemimpinnya maka Drum'nya sebagai pendukung yang kuat dan penyangga dari Biola dan menurut saya lebih sebagai tandem dari Biola itu sendiri. Secara keseluruhan Wedding Song benar2 memainkan hasrat kita untuk bersenang2, track2 yang lumayan pendek dan kita dibuat seperti haus dan ingin lebih lagi dari mereka, tapi disitulah kehebatannya Cue membuat komposisi yang kompleks walau secara basic dasar2 musiknya mempunyai ritme yang sama. This is exciting, fun, and refreshing. Click here for the full article. Covert Curiosity Once upon a time, thanks to a recommendation from a local record store employee, I picked up an album from an instrumental quartet from Austin called Cue. While Bring Back My Love had its good moments, I felt that the band had such a good balance in their instrumentation that they could create a more consise album that would properly showcase their talents. With Cue's new album Wedding Song I think they've hit the nail squarely on the head. Perhaps best described as a concoction of instrumental-post-chamber-rock, Cue is kind of like the pop side of Godspeed You! Black Emperor mixed with the happy-go-lucky side of Explosions in the Sky, if there is such a thing. Written and recorded in an east Austin studio over a couple of month's time, between side projects and the grind of day jobs, Wedding Song is the sound of four friends playing the music they love and striving to keep a firm footing in one of the most competitive music scenes that you're likely to find. Tracks like "Wedding Song For Living Things And Dead Things" move at a swift pace along with the help of some passionate violin work, "The Last Good Year Of My Life" cools things down after a busy eight-minutes of "Yroknrölsukkdn2002," and "Fleur De Lis" demonstrates Cue's own take on the traditional loud-quiet-loud instrumental song structure. You can pick up Wedding Song at most local record stores, and see Cue at Lambert's on September 1st. Outside of Austin you can get a copy of the album right here, and of course you can hear more at myspace. Click here for the full article. The Silent Ballet Being an instrumental band from Austin, Texas whose name doesn't start with Explosions in the Sky must be rough. I can imagine that just about every conversation Cue has with potential listeners goes something like this: Cue: Hi, we're an instrumental band from Austin, check us out! Dummy: Instrumental? Austin? Hey, do you guys know Explosions in the Sky? Cue: Yeah... Dummy: Yeah, they're awesome! Do you guys sound like them? Cue: No... Dummy: Oh...well, see you guys later! Which is disheartening, as I doubt that EitS were brushed aside in favor of Stars of the Lid upon formation, but I may be wrong. Furthermore, Wedding Song is Cue's THIRD album, after 2005's much acclaimed Bring Back My Love and 2001's now forgotten Keep Busy, which was released as a trio. Let's give credit where credit is due -- Cue's the most exciting act out of Austin right now. What is it that makes Cue so interesting? Perhaps it's the predominantly violin led tracks, where other bands are just content to have a string instrument for support (likely, we suspect, because they're aren't great violinists, not the case for Cue's Stacey's Meshbane). Maybe it's the use of guitar and bass as supporting players, often stuck behind violin and piano. This calls upon not the work of their local peers, guitar slinging astronauts, but instead the more subtle work of bands like Tristeza and Unwed Sailor. Strong drumming? Check. More energy than a chamber rock band should be allowed to possess? Got that too. Sometimes just makes you want to get up and dance? We'll throw down an exclamation mark on that one. Anyone still reading should do themselves a favor and order a copy of Wedding Song now and save themselves a good ten minutes. You'll thank me later. Any other website on the face of the Internet will likely either tell you that instrumental music is dead, or apologize for the current state of the scene over one or two paragraphs before telling you why they, as humble music critics, think you should listen to one more instrumental band before you throw in the towel. You don't see that as much here at The Silent Ballet, likely because much of the staff eats, sleeps, and dreams instrumental music, and after several, several months pass, you're not really listening to it the same way you originally did. What use to be, "hey, they sound like Godspeed because they both have long songs, strings, and get loud" turns into "hey, these guys are totally different from Gospeed because they're pulling influence straight from classical music, have dropped the progressive front, and the minimalist tendencies are restricted to the shorter tracks." Wow, that's quite a change to make, but all grasshoppers have to grow up someday. Conversely, what's really the different between Radiohead and U2? Both are from the UK, so *obviously* have the same influences, have things called "singers," work mainly with guitars and drums, and think they saved rock. I jest, of course, but perhaps this inane analogy sheds light on why instrumental bands always cringe at comparisons. You would too. It's rather difficult to place Cue in the musical spectrum, as they do share common traits with bands like Rachel's and Esmerine, but I'd never suggest they actually sound similar. The latter two are for the patient, particularly Esmerine, who can get quite abstract when they want. Rachel's long career has seen them move in a variety of directions, but for the most part they've settled into their own niche as well. Cue, in all honesty, should really appeal to everyone. Show me a person who doesn't like a short, upbeat tune with orchestral finish, and I'll check his pulse. I just don't believe that Cue won't get you out of your chair and at the very least force a little head bobbing/foot stomping action. Clocking in at a simple eight tracks, forty minutes, Wedding Songs is a concise ball of energy. Opener "(Every Wing Hits at Once)" gets us pumped with a "ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR!" followed by a marching band plowing through NYC's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Sure, it's only four people, but damn if they can't convince us it's many, many more. "Wedding Song for Living Things and Dead Things" keeps up the act, pouncing on the audience with frantic conglomeration of guitar, violin, and drum. Meshbane's playing is so bold and dominating that at times you wonder how Clarke Dominick, Colin Swietek, and Jason Brister can possible keep up. The quartet eventually unravels and takes a breather. Of course the track is destined to end even more dramatically (because we've woken up the living people, now we've got to do the same for the dead ones), but before we get there we're treated to a guitar led segment with a short string and glockenspiel outro, only I've already ruined the surprise, it's not really an outro at all. The initial momentum returns in a heartbeat, with such jaw dropping prowess that it'd even make Mono jealous. It's quite rediculous to think things can go uphill from here, but we're actually just at the foot of the mountain. "Can You See My Skeletons?" is one of the longer tracks on the CD at over seven and a half minutes (only "YROKROLSUKKDN2002" is longer at just under nine). Cue does well to switch up the mood, relieve the leftover anxiety from "Wedding Song," and switch gears slightly. The track begins playfully, with Clarke bending out a surf rock-esque groove and Meshbane getting somewhat folky on violin. Brister shows off inventive drumming in this piece, calling upon slightly off-kilter jazz stylings to keep everything smooth. It's around the three minute mark when things coalesce. Thundering drums lead into another heated exchange between the quartet, cumulating in true Cue fashion. This could easily be the end of the track, but Cue reaches the climax and begins its downward descent. Guitars are exchanged for bass and piano, and Meshbane returns to plucking. Three minutes later we touch the ground again. "Capture the Flag" continues with a sophisticated air, carrying itself like a Six Parts Seven track with violin accompaniment. This resets the palette for another wonderful track, "YROKROLSUKKDN2002." This track is highlighted by something I often praised Samuel Jackson 5 for back in 2005, maintaining a melody through different instruments. It seems pretty easy, but for some reason many bands just don't bother with this approach. What it allows the band to do is keep the listener interested in the piece (because we're hardwired to love melodies) while not sounding repetitive. Samuel Jackson 5's "Michael Collins Autograph" captured this essence, and "YROKROLSUKKDN2002" follows its lead by starting with the piano and later switching to guitar and violin. Here it's modified and twisted as the song progresses, but a unmistakable familiarity resides. An interlude briefly breaks the melody, then rushes into another heavy exchange, but if you dig down deep enough you'll see it's still there, shining in the brilliant sunlight. A brass outro leads into "The Last Good Year of My Life," which is another middle of the road tracks which balances the overall work and furthers displays the band's promising arrangements. Of note, it's the only piece that features vocals with a soothing "Ahhhhhhhh" throw in between the bouncy bass lines. The last two tracks are perhaps Cue's greatest work. "Forest of Pencil Pierced Children" is unlike anything else encountered. This is very stoic, contemplative, and reserved. The quartet plays slowly and quietly, almost as if they children who have assembled for a late night band practice and are afraid to be discovered. Instruments emerge unannounced, sliding in and out of earshot at a second's notice. Admittedly, this is where Cue most loses sight of their unique identity, but its place in the album is well justified and does hint that the band's future may hold more experimental works. And then we're left with "Fleur de Lis," a six minute ballad and Cue's last shot to wow your pants off, if they already haven't. There's not much contained here that Cue hasn't already impressed us with, as they've already impressed us so much, but it's validates itself by being the strongest track on effort. It's not as unrelenting as "Wedding Song," not as exhaustive as "YROkROLSUKKDN2002," more playful than "Can You See My Skeleton?" and still retains all the great qualities exhibited in the previous thirty-five minutes. A great finish to a remarkably engaging and fun album. If you only need one album to get you through the summer, this could be it. Nothing else picks up the spirit quite like Cue. Click here for the full article. Fat and Confused Blogspot I only recently discovered quite how much decent post rock there was out there, everyone is familiar with the Godspeed’s the Explosions in the Sky, The 65 Days of Static, the Dirty Three’s and although I had long been ignorant perhaps Mono were not so deep in the underground as I imagined. Thanks to Jordan Voldz Silent Ballet and particularly their top 50 Instrumental albums of each year since 2005 I’ve unearthed a number of great bands not least the Ascent of Everest, Laura, The Pirate Ship Quintet and Souvenirs Young America, still what I’ve found is that all too many whilst undoubtedly being excellent have often followed the straight forward formula that Explosions in the Sky do so well. As I say, it’s not that its bad, it just lacks depth, much like with a “pop” band I get bored of seeing guitar, bass and drums, at the very least bring in a keyboard, so it is with post rock that the piano and violin can add that extra depth that allows the band to take on a new level, to dig deeper and express a dictionary full of new and unknown feelings. It’s refreshing to hear a band like Texas, Austin’s Cue, that are described rather nicely on last.fm as a four-piece progressiveinstrumental/chambernoise rock band. Although one of the things that draws me to post rock is the slightly doomy outlook most bands have, the darkness and apocalyptic direction most take, its again refreshing to hear such an upbeat instrumental band. It comes as no surprise to discover that guitarist Colin Swietek is an occasional member of Graveface Records outfit the Octopus Project (perhaps best known for their collaboration with the also fantastic Black Moth Super Rainbow. Wedding Song for Living Things and Dead Things, YROKROLSUKKDN2002, Can You See My Skeleton? And Fleur de Lis stand out, though as whole this is a great upbeat album that could quite welcomely be my wedding song. Click here for the full article. The Silent Ballet Cue returns with its 3rd album in six years and second as a quartet. Anyone who thought Bring Back My Love wasn't upbeat enough will have their hands full with Wedding Song. Somehow Cue manages to cram in more happy post-rock and more convincing experimental tracks, as well as still delivering the good old fashion explosive finale when needed AND wraps it all up in just over forty minutes. Wedding Song is unquestionably the best CD this year from a Texan band who dares to label itself as a 'rock' band. Click here for the full article.
Kronic.it Sono oramai diversi anni che si legge e si ascolta il nome di questo stato americano come patria di gruppi che hanno saputo ritagliarsi un posto al sole in una specifica nicchia musicale, il genere rock-strumentale. Immediatamente vengono alla mente gli Explosions in The Sky, seguiti da atti piú o meno noti come i My Education e gli A Five and Dime Ship. Sembra quindi abbastanza arduo per i nuovi arrivati potersi mettere in mostra in un panorama che, col passare del tempo, é diventato asfittico. Partendo da queste premesse il disco dei Cue, altro quartetto texano, diventa una piacevole sorpresa: una malinconia misteriosa di fondo, una presenza costante di archi e pianoforte ed una forte volontá di eludere qualsiasi approccio riconducibile a strade sonore giá sfruttate da altri. Il loro secondo album “Bring back my love” evoca atmosfere sonore molto emotive, dove la delicatezza del violino si mescola con sapienza alla muscolaritá delle chitarre: per certi versi questo connubio ricorda i primi Mono, quelli di “Under the pipal tree”. I cambi di ritmo all´interno dello stesso brano sono ottimamenti eseguiti, con un occhio di riguardo per le transizioni quiete-furia, dove le percussioni conducono per mano l´assalto sonoro destinato a travolgere l´ascoltatatore. Alcune composizioni risaltano per l´incredibile quantitá di talento presente, come i momenti di calma prima della tempesta sonora “Every wing all at once” e i molteplici cambi in corsa di “Granny suite”. Un´altra nota positiva é l´ottima produzione del disco, capace di mantenere bilanciato l´apporto di ogni singolo strumento. Sarebbe riduttivo bollare questa opera come post-rock, data la presenza di diverse sfumature della musica rock come indie e space. Per alcune persone la mancanza di testi (eccezion fatta per il coro nella traccia finale) puó essere una limitazione: ma con un´offerta musicale del genere é un lusso a cui si puó facilmente rinunciare. **** Click here for the full article. Metro Pulse, Knoxville's Weekly Voice As a musician, hailing from a town like Austin can be either a blessing or a curse. On the one hand, you’re a part of a musical community thriving with spirited creativity and likeminded companionship. With that, however, comes the threat of being just another voice screaming to be heard above the murmuring musical din. That’s the position in which Austin-based quartet Cue finds itself. These semi-frequent Pilot Light guests make instrumental symphonies that tend to fall under the somewhat arbitrary banner of post-rock. Cue follows in the tradition of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Mogwai and Austin scene-mates Explosions in the Sky, blending elaborate musicianship with grandiose emotive soundscapes. At first there’s a certain sense of the formulaic. That’s almost a given, considering the band emulates the post-rock pattern of slow, peaceful guitars that escalate into a frenzied wall of sonic chaos. But Cue does it so well that it doesn’t really matter. Likewise, Cue more than manages to put its own spin on things. The addition of piano, violin and glockenspiel to these songs, as well as varied, sometimes abrupt tempo changes, frees the band up to be itself. The resulting dynamic produces short opuses that dive and soar. Cue sooths with its soft, guitar-driven melodies, nearly lulling you to sleep with the interplay of low-key bass and melancholic violin arrangements. Then, slowly, the pressure builds, often following the lead of Jason Brister’s frantic drumming. The frenzied instrumentation fans in multiple directions, yet ultimately never loses control. Instead Cue succeeds in its delicate dance, entwining tumultuous instrumentals that amaze, instead of overpowering one another. Delusions of Adequacy Like fellow Texans Explosions in the Sky, Cue follows in the footsteps of Godspeed You Black Emperor! and Mogwai,creating dynamic, brooding, post-rock instrumentals. While Cue's songs tend to emulate the formula of soft,slow, guitar-based tunes that build into mountains of coordinated sonic assault, the band has modified the formula by including diverse tempo changes and additional instruments like piano, glockenspiel, and violin. The four members of Cue break slightly from their brethren post-rockers with piano and violin interludes that border on classical, where the up-front violins produce a melancholic aura ripe with emotion. The slow starts are calming, and the transitions to the more frantic passages are flawless, usually instigated by Jason Brister's lively drumming and often including additional percussion. The turbulent mix of guitars, bass, keyboards, and violins rarely attain overpowering proportions but mostly weave fervent tales with creative interplay that approximates prog-rock rather than post-rock. The album is assembled nicely for your listening pleasure with short, exquisite, tranquil pieces acting as bookends to open and close the disc and one in the middle as an intermission. Scattered in between are well-orchestrated songs that demonstrate Clarke Dominick's and Colin Swietek's ability to combine guitars, bass, and keyboards into coordinated crescendos that are filled with raw power but are not overwhelming. But it is Stacy Mashbane's violin that give these tunes their poignancy. Songs like "The Sun Has Risen Twice Today," "Every Wing All at Once," "The End of the Rule of Nostalgia," and the title track diverge from the post-rock convention of soft-loud-soft and extend the boundaries by including more indie-like guitar strumming, classical arrangements, and chilling violin that rises not to a mountain of sonic assault but a plateau of somber space-rock. The production is crisp throughout, keeping the instruments balanced, with the exception of "Handful Savants" and "Thulsa Doom," where the blistering guitar fuzz pushes Meshbane's violin work too deep in the clamor instead of out front where it should be. Since they don't write lyrics, except for a short, subdued chorus of "Bring back my love" on the closing track, Cue should show a little more creativity with song titles. Having three of 11 tracks untitled and borrowing another from a book begs an explanation; although the sleeve design, artwork, and track layout are very imaginative and make a neat package. Like a welcome thundershower brings a cool stiff breeze after a hot, humid summer afternoon, Cue offers up a near-perfect post-rock storm. Click here for the full article. Austin Chronicle Only the tightest instrumentalists elicit a Pavlovian response from their audience – a cocked head of incomprehension. Something's being said, but what? Jazz is explicit, but skillful post-rock embodies enigma. The melancholic mystery of Bring Back My Love manages both. The combination of Clarke Dominick's keyboards and Stacy Meshbane's violin cutting through the local quartet's dense rock ballast immediately sets Cue apart from the instrumental fallout in the wake of Explosions in the Sky. They're Austin's Dirty Three, only solar-powered, not shadow-driven. The quarry cutter breaks from "The Sun Has Risen Twice Today," Meshbane stabbing at Jason Brister's taunting drum beat, dance the assassination tango. The free-flight migration of "Every Wing All at Once" matches the plucked twilight of "The End of the Rule of Nostalgia," which steps onto a piano plateau of sparring beats and the rising waters of guitarist Colin Swietek's burst dam. Meanwhile, the epic palace coup of "Thulsa Doom" is nearly swept asunder by the 13-minute tidal sweep of "Granny Suite." Each track stands alone, which makes the titanic voyage of Bring Back My Love slightly choppy in places, but the overall effect is one of, if not a perfect storm, then the white noise tempest whose rain-weighted clouds beg you to release their outpour. Austin American-Statesman: XLent Slowly but surely, Austin has become home to — and become associated with — a vibrant colony of bands playing stately instrumental rock. Before any of them was Trail of Dead, who these days seem to de-emphasize their once-massive instrumental passages. (Besides, they were always a little too punk rock.) Then you have your Explosions in the Sky, who were building epic guitar rock before anyone else. And there's A Five and Dime Ship and My Education, both of whom pursue much the same muse. These are bands that have worn flat their copies of "Mogwai Young Team" and Godspeed You Black Emperor's increasingly influential debut "F#A#oo," not to mention Slint's insanely seminal "Spiderland" and any Neil Young record that Slint dug.("Zuma" comes to mind.) Now we have Cue, who play down those bands' dynamic guitar shifts in favor of a full-on chamber rock feel: Piano, violin and glockenspiel drive these melodies. "Bring Back My Love," the band's second album, is a strong outing, alternately delicate and muscular. Drums are thunderous but distant, kept deep in the mix. The bass plays a tasteful supportive role. Clarke Dominick's piano and Stacy Meshbane's violin are where the action is. They trade off the melodic truth-telling from song to song, almost in dialogue, each instrument delivering a particular chapter or delineating a theme. It's lovely, often majestic stuff, suitable for listening sessions both ambient and deep. —Joe Gross Cue play Friday with the Octopus Project, Shearwater and the Sun at Emo's. Local and National PressTime Out New York Cue plays well-paced instrumental indie rock with elegant textural flourishes. The Austin quartet’s tunes are dreamily transporting yet hard-hitting. Click here for the full article Creative Loafing, Charlotte, NC Cue Mention instrumental rock outfits from Texas these days and most folks'll assume you're talking Explosions in the Sky. But as somebody recently put it to me, there's more to musical drama than just stomping on a delay pedal, and that's something this Austin quartet implicitly gets. Putting as much emphasis on violin and piano as the mountains of guitar squall, Cue's dynamics are more nuanced and ethereal, recalling Godspeed! or Japancakes (minus the pedal steel) more than EITS or Mogwai. Their new record, Wedding Song, is a flat-out delight. Opening for Captured! By Robots. Milestone (Schacht) Click here for the full article Knoxville's Weekly Metropulse Click here for the full article The Daily Times, Maryville, TN A funny thing happened when the members of Austin, Texas-based chamber/noise rock outfit Cue sat down to start work on “Wedding Song,” the band’s most recent album. The darkness that was present on “Bring Back My Love,” the band’s 2005 debut, just wasn’t there. Sure, there’s something brooding to the instrumental music made by Cue; but on “Wedding Song,” the band veers into more upbeat territory that caught the members by surprise. “For ‘Bring Back,’ we wrote all of the songs within the first year of playing together, and it was really kind of dark, melodramatic stuff,” Cue violinist Stacy Meshbane told The Daily Times this week. “Then when we started writing on the next one, we tried to do that again, and we just couldn’t really find anything that worked like that. Maybe we just got happier, although I don’t remember being that miserable or anything. “But this one ended up being really poppy and dance-ish, and I think it just sounds happier.” Indeed, from the outset — well, after the short and brooding intro “Every Wing Hits at Once,” which is an excellent pump-fake for what follows — the band seems intent on lifting the spirit. “Wedding Song for Living Things and Dead Things” has a distinctive Celtic feel to it, anchored by light bass lines and a delicate interplay between violin and guitar. “Can You See My Skeleton?” kicks off with some frenetic drumming, slowly bringing the remaining instruments into the mix until the end result is a high-energy free-for-all that stretches on for more than 7 minutes; and “Fleur De Lis” anchors the album’s end with a joyous intermingling of anthemic guitar and gentle piano. The entire album is a glimpse of sun after a stormy day — the brightness of white light on wet pavement, the warmth of the sun on the cheeks, the receding clouds as the sky grows its blue beard back to full. And it’s all done without the benefit of vocals. That may be off-putting to some fans who like their music more traditional, but vocals wouldn’t work so well with Cue anyway, Meshbane said. “I definitely understand where they’re coming from, but with us, we’re so loud it would be pointless to have somebody singing anyway,” she said. “I played classical violin growing up, so I’m really conscious of the melody and how it serves a vocal kind of role.” The band got its start as a two-piece, when guitarist/bassist/keyboard player Clarke Dominick and drummer Jason Brister made their tentative first steps into Austin’s eclectic and competitive music scene. In 2000, guitarist Colin Swietek, part of the San Marcos indie scene and occasional member of electro-rock group The Octopus Project, moved to Austin and joined the two, and the trio released “Keep Busy,” their first full-length album, in 2001. Meshbane, formerly of the Tunahelpers, joined later that year, and in 2005, “Bring Back My Love” landed amid glorious praise from critics of the indie scene. “Wedding Song” followed in June. The composition of Cue’s music, Meshbane said, is an organic process, with each member bringing a part to the table and the remaining bandmates creating their own parts over the top of it. It’s sort of an improv-in-the-studio kind of thing, something that creates a work of art that can shift and transform in the live setting, depending on how well the members remember exactly how they played their parts in the studio. “The whole writing process, for me at least, is kind of like an improv,” Meshbane said. “When we play live, sometimes I can’t remember what I played in the studio, so I have to play something similar, and after a couple of years of doing that, you kind of figure out what your part is. I don’t think we do as much live as you might expect; I always thought there was more improv stuff going on, but maybe everybody else in the band is better at remembering it.” She laughs, a pleasant sound that gives away the quirky and spirited nature that seems to make Cue, at least the band as of “Wedding Song,” so much fun. The members had a brush with death the last time Cue played Knoxville, but Meshbane and her bandmates can even see the humor in that. “We tried to go to Hot Springs (N.C.) one time, and we almost died — we didn’t ask for directions because we thought we would be able to find it, and since we don’t have mountains where we’re from, we didn’t know you were supposed to shift into lower gear,” she said — laughing again. “Our brakes totally went out. We were going down this mountain, and the brakes just caught on fire. I was actually really happy when we got out of the car and we weren’t hurtling toward death any more.” In the end, Meshbane and her co-horts had a good laugh at their misfortune. And it didn’t scare them away from Knoxville entirely — they return on Thursday to perform at The Pilot Light in Knoxville’s Old City. And when it comes to performance, a high-energy show for four people can be just as successful and enthusiastic as a listless show for 100. “I think a lot of what makes a show successful is how we’re all getting along,” she said. “We’re all really good friends, but if there’s some tension or some brooding, it can make the show even better, because it gives us a chance to work out that hostility on stage.” Click here for the full article The Onion Thanks to the success of Explosions in the Sky--and to the consternation of Tom Petty fans everywhere wondering "When's that guy gonna sing already?"--quiet/loud instrumental bands have a stranglehold on Austin. In a town full of post-rock bands aching for a little taste of the Friday Night Lights money, Cue stood out with its moody debut Bring Back My Love, which showcased its 21st-century chamber rock sound. Now the versatile local quartet aims to diversify with the more uplifting, blissful Wedding Song, out June 29. The A.V. Club recently spoke with Cue about its newfound happiness, the evolution of instrumental rock, and how it managed the very un-indie feat of actually meeting a deadline. The A.V. Club: How has your sound changed since Bring Back My Love? Cue plays a CD release show for WEdding Song on June 29 at Emo's Lounge with Horse + Donkey, Mothfight!, and Adrienne the Anemone. Tinymixtapes.com From there, the Whiskey Bar was hosting a local Austin act called Cue. Operating in a decidedly post-rock mode in the vein of Rachel's or Godspeed, the band built exquisitely layered instrumentals with an undeniably cinematic bent. As if to confirm this, the band offered an inspired re-working of Angelo Badalamenti's "Falling" from Twin Peaks. Replacing Julee Cruise's voice, Cue used violin, which functioned in a similarly ethereal, mysterious way. Their originals were just as sweeping and beautiful, and the drummer stood out with his ability to juggle time-signature and other rhythmic shifts with the appearance of minimal effort. Click here for the full article HybridMagazine.com After a full afternoon of running about and having a couple meetings, I jumped into the evenings music with a trip down to Buffalo Billiards with some buddies to check out Cue. The instrumental fury of Cue is unmatched in my experience. The polar opposite of bands like Mogwai, Cue is a more abrupt and powerful breed, more akin to post-rock bands like Mono. The drummer is a torrential maelstrom of sound, tight and deep, never relenting in his vicious attack on his kit. The fiddle nicely fleshes out the guitar and piano parts to completely fill melodic space… this is instrumental shoegaze on steroids. Click here for the full article Decoymusic.com As if there weren't enough instrumental bands from Texas that you should be paying attention to, Cue makes a strong argument to be added to that list. The list is long and pretty diverse, but when most people use "Texan" and "post-rock" in the same sentence, they throw in a comparison to Explosions in the Sky somewhere (damn, they're even from Austin too!). Luckily for Cue, they don't really have too much in common with their better known contemporaries. Instead, the band's 2005 album, Bring Back My Love, beckons a resemblance much more familiar to My Education, Detwiije or newcomers Bright Red Paper in it's adaptation of orchestral rock music. Violins are heavily used as guitars and drums steadily build up a solid foundation of support. On occasion the piano is called upon to infiltrate the mountainous sonic landscape, and the band is not one to skimp on cathartic moments. In many ways, it does an excellent job of preventing the album from wandering into the lull that accompanies most instrumental albums with heavy orchestral emphasis. Cue keeps it fast paced and interesting the entire way throughout; there's rarely a time to meander off course as the band dazzles over and over again. Although the band has been together now for five years, Bring Back My Love is the first release under its current lineup, but the music speaks for itself and this was an album that was worth the long wait. It's difficult to believe that anyone who's a fan of the post-rock genre won't be instantly enamored with Cue, for Bring Back My Love is an instant classic. Cue continues the long standing tradition of excellent Texan instrumental music. I keep wondering when the state will run out of strong instrumental acts, but it seems like every few months I'm introduced to yet another Texan band which does not cease to amaze me. Bring Back My Love is probably one of the better albums you neglected to listen to in 2005 (I know that it was for me). Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy today, you definitely won't regret it. Click here for the full article Pop Culture Press, Issue 63 Cue is a quartet that plays heavily textured, instrumental music. Bring Back My Love is an eleven-songcollection that is well-suited to rain-soaked afternoons or grey wintry skies. Most of the songs rely heavily on dynamic swells and use Stacy Meshbane's violin to provide the main melody lines that substitute for what would normally be a vocal melody. It recalls a number of other instrumental projects that have come out lately, although no one exactly: not as ethereal as Morning Recordings; not as dense as Dead Meadow; not aggressive like Turing Machine. The result is a record that is really very lovely in places and never fails to make a compelling listen and Cue's instrumental and compositional skills are certainly admirable. Bring Back My Love is never going to be a mainstay on my CD player, but it makes terrific music to have in the background while working or reading. Click here for the full article COVERT CURIOSITY Cue is a four-piece instrumental rock band whose most recent album Bring Back My Love was released in April of 2005. I got my hands on it sometime last week, and I feel like I need to slap someone for not bringing this CD to my attention before now. Their sound has been described as "a frenzied wall of sonic chaos", "an orchestrated assault", and the "stirringly dark and gorgeous violin, glockenspiel, guitar and keyboard melodies mingle with fitting percussion for a full classical-meets-indie-rock sound". Here's a short bio from their website: "Cue began as a two-piece between guitarist/ bassist/ keyboardist Clarke Dominick and drummer Jason Brister. In 2000, guitarist Colin Swietek, part of the San Marcos indie scene and occasional member of electro-rock group The Octopus Project (Peekaboo), moved to Austin, slept under the ping pong table in Clarke and Jason's garage, and started playing music with them. The trio released "Keep Busy," their first full-length album, in 2001. Later that year violinist Stacy Meshbane, formerly of the Tunahelpers (Mimicry) joined the band. In April 2005, Cue released "Bring Back My Love," their debut album as a four-piece, which has already received excellent reviews from Delusions of Adequacy, the Austin Chronicle and the Austin American-Statesman." You can also head over to Cue on MySpace and download "The End Of The Rule Of Nostalgia" and purchase the album at CueAustin.com, or if you're in Austin at Waterloo Records or End of an Ear. Do it. Cue have been compared to the likes of Godspeed You! Black Emperor and fellow Austin band Explosions in the Sky, and I guess those are accurate, but I would definitely have to say that "Bring Back My Love" stands on its own.Click here for the full article The Charlotte Observer, July 13, 2005 I've never been a fan of instrumental rock. My mind starts to wander during lengthy solos or when jam bands begin improvising. As a writer, I always paid attention to lyrics. But a number of up-and-coming instrumental acts are changing my mind about the absence of vocals. Cue, an Austin, Texas-based chamber rock quartet who play the Milestone tonight at 8 ($5), are one of those bands. Stirringly dark and gorgeous violin, glockenspiel, guitar and keyboard melodies mingle with fitting percussion for a full classical-meets-indie-rock sound. The instrumental approach has drawn comparisons to Godspeed You Black Emperor! and Mogwai, but comes closest to the cello-based trio Rasputina immersed in a voiceless mash-up with a Superchunk single stuck on 33 rpm. Other instrumental acts are drawing larger audiences as well. Fellow Austin indie-rockers Explosions in the Sky expanded their audience scoring the 2004 Texas football flick "Friday Night Lights.". French buzz band M83, who feature a few vocals embedded in their cascading wall of sound, stole some of Irish hit-makers Snow Patrol's crowd at this year's Coachella Festival, where both performed during the same time slot. The trend isn't new. Predominantly instrumental acts such as Medeski, Martin & Wood, Tortoise, and Sound Tribe Sector 9 have flourished in jam and indie rock circles. So what changed my mind other than excellent discs by M83, Cue and Explosions in the Sky? Watching locals Hell or Highwater's ADD rock last week at the Milestone. They changed direction and style mid-song while flurrying between delicate guitar work, hardcore, metal and complicated math rock -- and held my attention with nary a lyric. Click here for the full article. The Austin Chronicle As a rule during an interview with a rock band, if talk turns to their love of musicals, it's time to ask for the check. If that musical happens to be Jesus Christ Superstar, you may be praying for lightning to strike. But when that band is Cue and their appreciation for it is oh so sincere, it's kind of awesome. The instrumental Austin quartet has no shame when talking about their influences, misconceptions about their sound, or their love of religious rock opera. Cue began as a twopiece, with just high school friends Jason Brister and Clarke Dominick. "Jason and I started playing together almost exactly 10 years ago," says Dominick, lounging in the garden at Spider House. "In '97, we started playing as a duo; one of our first shows was at [former Austin punk bar] Bates Motel. Then came Colin, who was living in San Marcos at the time. We had just moved to this one house and Colin was like, 'I just want to come live with you guys in Austin for a while.' We had this ping-pong table set up in the garage, and he slept under it." "It was awesome," says guitarist Colin Swietek, who also spent time in local electro-pop group the Octopus Project. "They were practicing as a duo, playing acoustic guitars, and I'd have all these ideas for what I could do on guitar." As a trio, Cue released its first LP in 2001 before adding Stacy Meshbane, violinist since the age of 4 and previously of Austin's psych-lullabye band TunaHelpers. "I was really scared because I've done classical my whole life, and they were all loud boys," Meshbane laughs. The current incarnation of Cue was born. At first listen, their lyric-free approach to songwriting seems scene-driven, expressionist, orchestral. Brister insists that's just the way it happened. "Clarke and I were weaned on a lot of the same music, and a lot of it was lyrical," Brister says. "Fugazi, and ... well, I have this renewed obsession with Jesus Christ Superstar. It's all very lyrical, but I just don't know if we have anything to say." "The way the songs are written, they don't need any vocals," concurs Swietek. "When we're writing something, whatever sounds good to everyone is what we'll run with." "When someone says 'cinematic,' I think of something grand," hedges Brister about the most common label attached to Cue. "I don't think we have those grand concepts in our songwriting. [The songs] might be more based around the ideas of relationships, us getting together, getting excited about something, than grander ideas like war." "We started using 'chamber rock,' but I don't really feel like that's so accurate," Dominick says. "There are so few instrumental bands, so there are all these default labels. You want to think that you're doing something original, but for this kind of music to be a genre right now, that's fairly new." April's Bring Back My Love (austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2005-04-22/music_phases2.html) was recorded at Sweatbox studios over the period of approximately two years. The combination of Dominick's piano and glockenspiel, and Meshbane's violin create a static mix and flesh out stories where Swietek's guitar and Brister's drums are free to crawl or run to the surprise ending. "We recorded it like four times," Brister says. "It finally worked. We were also very, very done with it." Discussion again devolves into talk of Jesus Christ Superstar, it's viable, catchy numbers and brilliant subtext. The band quotes lines from it and sings choruses. "Whatever people say about Andrew Lloyd Webber or the musical, it was just so awesome to me," says Dominick. "It was big and thematic, but still kind of rock & roll. I loved the rock music context." "I'm obsessed with it right now, again," Brister says. "I can't get it out of the CD player." "It's just ... the best story!" Dominick exclaims. Just as he says this, a young man wearing sunglasses, flip-flops, a button-down shirt and only a towel around his waist stumbles up to the table. Even though it's after 10pm, he insists he just woke up from a "nap in the park" and asks for a cigarette. Battling hiccups, the man tells us he's an artist and stares off into the distance before snapping back to reality and alerting us that he's "going to play some basketball." He stumbles away and the band stares at each other before bursting into laughter. "Keep Austin weird!" smiles Swietek. Click here to go to the article. Creative Loafing CUE—This Austin-based quartet’s self-described “chamber rock” is nothing less than inspired. The Cue’s skilled, interwoven instrumentals evoke Tortoise or B-movie soundscapes in which the violin adds and otherworldly dimension. Save the trip to the bar until after the band finishes. This music is worth paying attention to. Milestone. Friday, July 15, 2005. The Village Voice Cue. Lit, 93 2nd Ave. This Austin-based “chamber rock” quartet (featuring glockenspiels, violins, and tambourines at times along with rock stuff) warns on their press release not to play “approximately one minute interlude” tracks 1, 6 and 11 apart from the rest of their album. But I like to break rules, so I just did, and surprisingly, the world did not blow up. Those are no less fleetingly comely than most of the other cuts. 9pm. Eddy. Austin Chronicle CUE, 8pm, Velvet Spade. When Explosions in the Sky found success with their lulling guitars building into crescendos, the local scene got a needed boost in the instrumental department. Now Cue takes the stage singing a similar tune, made their own with the addition of violin. A full-length record is in the works. RANK AND REVUE It was definitely easier to watch Cue with all senses go, as their frequent instrument switch-offs made for entertaining (although somewhat jealousy-inducing) viewing. Again, though, I preferred their completely instrumental set as a background to the images in my head. With eyes closed, Cue makes a good soundtrack for the imagination. It began with the supernatural opener that had their violin player singing (I think) into her electric violin pick-up, which provided one of the cooler ethereal effects I've heard recently. Then it was music for spies. Then it was music for summer camaraderie. Then it was music for mischief. Their arrangements were more orchestral than progressive, and it provided a nice alternative to the more artsy and confounding instrumental bands in town. By the end, Cue had chased away the introversion I had carried with me into the club and replaced it with a much more satisfying wave of introspection. HOUSTON PRESS To some, dance music is a constant repetition of boom-ch-boom-ch beats laid under some DJ's crappy collection of dusty vinyl. For Austin/Houston group the Octopus Project, dance music is something else entirely, something they call "ambidextrous equipment failure junk-tronica." The eight arms of the band's four members -- Toto Miranda (Woozy Helmet), Erik Bogle (Groceries), and Josh and Yvonne Lambert -- float and intertwine through a bewildering array of electronics and the usual rock gear -- they switch off on a total of 13 instruments between songs, and sometimes right in the middle of them. Cue is a four-piece instrumental chamber noise rock band from Austin with a melodic and dramatic violin/piano/guitar/bass sound that often crests into mountains of orchestrated assault. Yeah, the comparisons to Godspeed, You Black Emperor! and Mogwai are a given, but the incredibly technical skills of drummer Jason Brister set Cue apart. "We do our best to keep it different and unique, while still letting our natural expressive forces do their thing," Brister explains. "And we try to play tambourines as much as we can because they're cool." And it doesn't get much more technical than a tambourine. Click here for the full article See You in the PIT The first time I saw Cue, it was at Austin's very own Beerland on Election Night 2004. I have to admit, I wasn't all that preoccupied with the election's outcome, but it was nice to have a reason to go out and not hang around the house, obsessively watching the results roll in. I met up with some friends and we trekked down to Red River, endured Beerland's really sub par sound system, and caught a great set from Cue. (Later that night, I was mobbed by throngs of people leaving Interpol as I shoved my way through a river of black-clad hipsters to get to Stubb's to see Shearwater and Decibully play a late show.) Anyway, I was extremely impressed by Cue —a four-piece instrumental rock band that's half chamber ensemble, half prog rock extravaganza. Unlike a lot of instrumental rock bands that basically just put you to sleep as they bang away on their instruments or bore you to tears with swirling, shimmering songs that go nowhere, Cue's songs are incredibly thoughtful and packed with emotion —big swooping tone poems that have velocity and heart. Stacy Meshbane's smoky, wicked violin dances ahead of Jason Brister's drumlines which in turn pull along the dark, fuzzy guitars and keys from Clarke Dominick and Colin Swietek. And the end result is just gorgeous. I'll make no apologies, I love listening to Cue's new record. I compose little short films in my head to go with each track —that's how vivid and evocative the music is. I really hope you like it too. Cue's official website. Their first album, Bring Back My Love is slated for release later this month. [I'm really pleased to offer a little web exclusive here at "See You In The Pit" today. Thanks to the members of Cue allowing us post some advance tracks from their new album, Bring Back My Love.] yay for cue Cue is one of my favorite Austin bands ever, and a bunch of sweeties to boot. I'm not just saying that because we are sorta friendly acquaintances or because some members are playing on Steve's album-in-progress. They really are phenomenal. I think I really got them for the first time when they opened for Steve at his last album release show at the Church of the Friendly Ghost. It was a hot night and the stage lights were turned down to decrease the temperature. The audience sat on church pews and along the floor, watching the band, who were barely visible in the light of one red bulb. Within thirty seconds of the beginning of their set, they totally blew me away. I have to admit, I often find instrumental bands kind of tiresome. There are all these people doing the same tired quiet-loud-quiet thing. Cue definitely uses dynamics to their full effect, but they do more than that. Their music can be beautiful and ineffably emotional, but they also rock out and make you want to move around. The effect that night was powerful. I felt sort of like that guy in the old Maxell ad. Afterwards everyone just kind of looked around at each other in stunned silence. Ever since then I've been a huge fan of theirs. Anyways, as usual I digress. My point in posting was to point out that today Cue are featured on see you in the pit, a music blog dedicated to acts that are performing at South by Southwest. There's a lovely review and some mp3s from Knitters take note: the cover of the album, a small image of which is on their news page, features a picture of Clarke's parents in which Clarke's dad is wearing the coolest fair isle sweater ever. I will try to get a better image of it to show you guys sometime. I like it so much I am thinking about trying to copy it. Oh, and if you're in town for SXSW, you should totally check Cue out both at their showcase show at 8 on Wednesday at the Velvet Spade and at the East Side Scootenanny free show at the Red Scoot Inn on Saturday at 2:50. Austin Chronicle Recommended Bills: RECOMMENDED (4/5/05 @ Emo's)
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