Albums by this artist

Getting Into Sinking (2001)

Audiot (1999)

AM/FM

Audiot

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» MARK T.R. DONOHUE | STAFF WRITER

AM/FM Audiot Skylab Operations, 1999 RiYL: Pinback, Franklin

What a joy it is to have one's expectations exceeded. AM/FM, parallel project of Franklin guitarist and music scribe Brian Sokel, falls into none of the usual "side band" traps. Audiot recalls older sounds without falling into limp genre exercise, dabbles in sampling without abandoning songform and plays to Sokel's chief strengths without repeating itself.

"The Death They Claim" suggests the record is going to be a pleasant, if slight bit of moderately studio-coated folk-derived indie, distinguished by Sokel's wonderfully unaffected vocals and neat organ parts. But AM/FM branches out from there. "We Will Study Your Life" and "Say What?" add multitracked guitars and intelligent drum programming while leaving the root components still prominent. "A Poor Sense Of Timing" begins as a folky, Townes Van Zandt-ish acoustic ballad and ends joined by a background wash of distorted guitar and some effective wordless crooning.

The instrumental "Straight Around" recalls another two-man side band, Pinback, with an odd whistling loop and a lingering bassline. "Those Long Arms" is an oddly structured record with a mixture of acoustic and electric sounds that bring the EP full circle.

Sokel and collaborator Michael Parsell have hit on to something with Audiot's mixture of old-fashioned songwritin' and new-fangled studio trickery. How bout a full-length?

MARK T.R. DONOHUE | Mark T.R. Donohue is a prolific freelance writer whose areas of expertise include Rockies baseball, video games, genre television, English soccer, and pub rock. He lives in Colorado, where he cultivates the largest and creepiest private collection of Alyson Hannigan memorabilia in the Mountain West.