Choking Ahogo
Radars and Maps (Victim) Austin’s Choking Ahogo start off sounding like a band that might go on early, but wind up as the guys Rice University undergrads might invite back to their dorms for some late-night shenanigans. Radars and Maps is populated with the perfect combination of dumbasses, drunkards, and deviants, so who’ll be the first in line? But this isn’t giving them proper credit: The local trio’s sophomore album is pointed, tuneful, and poignant, the perfect party album to put on as the lanes of post-collegiate seduction possibilities open up. Similar to Guided by Voices’ brusquely melodic Isolation Drills, Radars hammers away until nothing is left except the cleanly picked guitar lines, urgently bleated vocals, and power-chord bursts that explain why you’re waking up on the floor at a stranger’s apartment. The unbridled enthusiasm of “Throaty V” and “Action Figure” barely harnesses their engine-driving id, while “Deep Little Bee Sting” and “Scenester’s Lament” luxuriate in the late-summer swoon that strikes when the beer is cold, the guitars are in tune, and all the girls are good-looking. With Radars and Maps, Choking Ahogo have charted a course that will hopefully have them pounding out the tunes at many, many keggers to come. (Wednesday, March 17, 11pm @ Soho Lounge)
This article appears in March 12 • 2004.