Armed with a love of worldly grooves and a lean, gritty take on post-punk, the Bay Area's Tempo No Tempo are set to release their debut LP "Waking Heat" this fall. Recently scaling down to three members, the band re-invented their sound and approach stripping away the more predictable pop elements of their past EPs, which received considerable praise by the likes of Pitchfork and IHEARTCOMIX. Combining tightly wound guitars, dubby melodic basslines, and crazy polyrhythms, Tempo No Tempo have been described as Reggaeton-punk or tribal New Wave. Regardless of genre, the band has grown into a sound that's harder to pinpoint, but undeniably immediate and restless.
Tyler McCauley remains on guitar, while taking the reins as the band's lead vocalist, supported by chants, yelps and harmonies from drummer Alex Kaiser and bassist/keyboardist Jason Wexler. The instrumentals pulse with the energy of James Brown breakbeats, but with the fierce dynamic shifts of early Fugazi. Beyond the dance-punk of their previous efforts, the band's sonic vocabulary has evolved to tropical punk jams ("Kilometer"), wild fuzz freakouts ("Kindercare," "Pole Position") and barely-there ballads ("Half Asleep"). The band's ambition is paced by their restraint and rhythmic prowess, as ideas are fleshed out over terse beats and angular melodies.
Recording "Waking Heat" at Tiny Telephone studios with Jay Pellicci (Deerhoof, Erase Errata), the album captures their new sonic maturity in a studio for the first time, showcasing their love of studio detail but also their raw live prowess. After touring the West Coast frequently behind their previous EPs, they're ready to bring their new material on the road this fall for their first national tour.
Tempo No Tempo are ready to re-introduce themselves with a new line-up, a new record, and a new sound.
"It's refreshing to hear a young band playing vigorous songs without too much hullabaloo about why and how they're doing it." Pitchfork Media
"In the past, they rode the line between hooky dance-rock and artier sounds, but the group writes that they've "grown out of their old indie rock shell, and shifted to something weirder, funkier, and much harder to pinpoint." True enough." The Bay Bridged
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