The Transmissions

Space rock, prog rock, psychedelia—whichever combination you choose, the formats those words describe all essentially refer to the same type of music: a nebulous genre that weaves dense tapestries of effects-pedaled guitar lines though even denser song structures until the entire self-indulgent sprawl interlaces into a massive, intractable Gordian Knot of decadent, M.C. Escher-with-a-Marshall-stack bluster.

Greater Imperfections succumbs to absolutely none of that; rather, it lives up to (if not beyond) it's title—the Transmissions have taken elements of those dangerously imperfect styles (along with swaths of postpunk and new wave) and Rubik's cubed them into something great. This is the sound of the Knot coming undone.

The EP opens with "Over Saving Mountain," a crushing blast of stungun guitar lines lacerating beneath singer/guitarist's Christian Biel's alternating croons and raw-throat barks, while the piston-pump rhythm section grinds out a sweatily propulsive beat against the spaced, psych-bliss arcs of Biel's molten guitar overflow. "Over" sets a standard for the EP (and the band) that keeps them both from submitting to their genre's more exorbitant excesses: despite the technical intricacy of the songs, the emotions and humanity that roil within them are never subsumed for surface mood and texture, a tripwire stumble that often grinds other, less able, bands to a soulless halt.

This sense of experimentalism coupled with stark introspection expands outward from "Over Saving Mountain"'s astral implosion and into "Nightsun," a modestly anthemed mercury trickle of edgy, Edge-y guitar spirals, before coalescing into the disc's darkly spinning whirlpool, "Safe." Beginning with a quiet lunar drift, the song slowly hardens into a fist-clinched nova of impassioned howls—"Oh no, what have I done?"—before regressing backwards into palpitating quiet once again. The track's heady dynamics (both sonic and lyric) make it the EP's microcosm—as a writhingly beautiful shapeshifter that lashes from ballad to bombast and back while making breakneck detours into noise-jangled experimentalism and pop songcraft, it mirrors the record's musical arc, while its lyrical depth and empathy reflect the emotional maturity of an EP far, far greater than imperfect. - Web in Front

At times, California's darling The Transmissions strut and pout as if they were from DC, kicking it with the roster of Dischord Records, and at other times they freak out like they were born from the same scene as Modest Mouse. Green Arke shows lots of promise for the relatively unknown group. I'd keep an ear out for them to move on to bigger and better things.

- Delusions of Adequacy

KROX - 101x in Austin selected The Transmissions as one of the best of South by Southwest 2005. DJ Rez selected the band.

http://www.krox.com/sxsw/index_hitlist.aspx - KROX - 101x , Austin

The CD seems like it’s been smuggled out of a Sudanese prison by a socioethnomusicologist for Amnesty International. - Stylus Zine

The Transmissions have a large, dreamy sound that isn't afraid to explore the far reaches of their musical talents or imaginations. They have the market cornered on eliciting any repressed emotions one may be dealing with. - Performer Magazine

The Transmissions deliver a debut album that is full of eccentric, eerie rock and eludes every pigeonhole I tried to squeeze it into. The songs are rife with jazzy, kinetic guitar work and wailing vocals, at times bordering on a new wave sound. For some reason this just seems like music for a David Lynch film
- Playback Magazine

Once the band is about to begin, the stage has transformed into what looks like the inside of my computer. For the next 45 minutes The Transmissions put on a show that reinforces why I describe them as the best band to see in L.A. There are moments of riotous, memorable guitar riffs that transition into hypnotic bass lines, haunting vocals and the perpetual heartbeat of drums that eventually swells each song back into splendorous fervor. Christian Biel, lead vocals and guitar, has remarkable stage presence. They succeed at what many bands strive to achieve, but fall short of; The art of the spectacle. To take raw, uncontrolled energy, contain it just at the point before all hell breaks loose and turn it into something inherently beautiful. - Loosrecord NY

You know how once in a while a band starts to play and the song is so enticingly trippy, you just stand there transfixed, forgetting that you have a $5 beer in your hand? That’s what the Transmissions’ “I’ll Run It” can do to you. Delicate, floating guitar notes weaved into a heavy groove make for music you’ll want to spend some quality alone time with. Yeah, it’s all been done before, but lead singer Christian Biel has a urgency and sadness to his voice that will make you want to rub his tortured brow with a cool cloth. - L.A. Weekly

My biggest complaint with most "LA" music is that no one takes any chances; however, the common thread running through The Central Second collective is having the confidence to create unique music. Hearing The Transmissions full length, Burning the Winner, helped me realize this thread of fearlessness. Burning the Winner is full of slowly cooked songs, which rest on a foundation of discord and fragmented riffs. Every song on the album bypasses the 3 minute pop structure, allowing the listener to sink deeper into the world of the song. In that sense (the approach to listening) it feels closer to a noise record. Hearing this grit and integrity, come out of a city famous for having neither characteristic, puts a smile on my face and makes my morning commute across town a little easier. - REWRITEABLE CONTENT