Attack Formation

We Are Alive in Tune (Australian Cattle God)

Only during the warped electronic beat of closer “Study Break Dancing” does its computer-generated voice finally explain Attack Formation. To summarize, the 189-member, revolving-door Austin ensemble constitutes a broken social scene, an avant-garde collective based on the pendulous relationship between improvisation and experimentation. As such, the group’s prolific output comes across like a garage sale, a random assemblage of found and abandoned sound. With We Are Alive in Tune, nearly everything is worth keeping. Reaganometry’s “Black Magic” couples surging rhythms with atmospheric vocals that teeter on the brink of consciousness, while Butcher Bear’s “Let’s Play Immature” suffers an all-out technological breakdown. The spastic, horn-accented post-punk of “Similar Sideways Glance” and “Two Daughters (aka Part II)” captures the same catharsis of “Hours.” As “The Truth Moves Out” will attest, there’s comfort in the confusion. (Attack Formation crowd Waterloo Records Friday, April 20, 5pm, and the Beauty Bar the next night.)

***.5

This article appears in April 20 • 2007.

A note to readers: Bold and uncensored, The Austin Chronicle has been Austin’s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community’s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands.

SUPPORT US