"Since Truckasauras’s first performance, they have been
repeatedly redefining electronic music in the live setting.
From underground house parties, to impromptu
street performances, to proper rock venues, Truckasauras’s
explosive lo-fi, audio-visual, live sets continually
raise the bar for not just electronic music, but anyone
seeking to captivate an audience and rock the party.
When performing, band members Adam Swan,
Tyler Swan, Ryan Trudell, and Dan Bordon, commonly
sport American flags (worn as bandannas or capes),
trucker hats, hunting vests, and various other trashy
accoutrements. Their DEVO-esqe, half-ironic display
deftly rides the line between performance art and a
really weird camping trip.
Bordon’s live video mash-ups are composed from
some of the worst entertainment American television
has to offer (vintage WWF, monster truck rallies,
infomercials, instructional videos, etc. ). In the same
way that Kraftwerk rejected American Rock’n’Roll for
an exaggerated caricature of German-ness, so does
Truckasauras reject the overly cool and aloof hipster
in preference for an exaggerated American persona,
both earnest and self-loathing.
In their 2008 debut release, Tea Parties, Guns, and
Valor, they brought forth from the studio pristine renderings
of their raucous live set �— proving that their
layered mix of analog synths, drum machines, and
samples had as much depth and nuance as their bar
tab (which is to say very, very, deep). Their showmanship
is only outshined by their musicianship and savvy
in composing and producing in the studio.
Now with the sophomore release of Quarters, released
collaboratively from Seattle’s Fourthcity and
the New York based audio magazine, The Journal of
Popular Noise, Truckasauras further elaborates on
their unique blend of all things electro with 9 new
tracks. Sweet synths in Fresh Blue; Dope Yellow give
way to the Truck version of an epic feel good track in
the titular Quarters. Throughout the record dark and
heavy rhythms and melodies build and layer. With a
van full of hand claps, cowbells, and rib rattling kick
drums, Truckasauras proves once again that there is
some really weird shit happening deep in the woods of
the Pacific Northwest. - B. Kalet"