TUBERS – Anachronous

There’s no shortage of misunderstood places in America, and with that there’s always a chance that some sort of musical act will rise from the obscurity. Unfortunately, North Florida bare-rockers Tubers are a group that listeners will more than likely be sending back to the mosquitoes.

Tubers take a sound that is outright simple, yet still manage to leave a lot to be desired in the final product. A series of songs quick enough to be heard in their totality in the duration of a cable television show commercial break are thrown together like a mound of chicken wings waiting to be coated in a generic-style barbeque sauce. Anachronous will ultimately sit among the other flags of substance in the record store and represent nothing other than lazy rock n’ roll.

That’s not to say the sound is insufficient for the ears of a public willing to listen — but the album sounds incomplete, and if one were to make the argument that Tubers try to bring it down to the bare essentials, the truth of the matter is that the required intensity just isn’t there. When working on an album, some bands will omit the unappealing or unnecessary elements to produce a polished, subtractive work. If Tubers tried this with their latest release, they would have almost nothing left to show for their effort — I hesitate to suggest that the best ideas of this album could be condensed into a shorter body of work, because while no band is ever limited by the amount of instruments in their repertoire, a harsh condensing of elements would still leave Tubers with a flat, almost blank canvas of sound. Too many repeat offenses of redundant drum fills and guitar sections make for a sophomoric stance.

I don’t ever like to write off a band as inexcusable or unlistenable — and I’m certainly not about to start now — but I will say this: If Tubers want to make music, they need not to rework their sound, they need to finish it. Until they find a style more fitting, there’s not much purpose they serve in the already dense world of music and musicians who have style, substance, and intensity.

(No Idea Records, PO Box 14636, Gainesville, FL 32604-4636)