New release on Tee Pee Records - Titan - A Raining Sun of Light and Love, For You and

February 9, 2007, 08:45 PM

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A Raining Sun of Light and Love, For You and You and You…

Release Date: March 19th 2007 - Tee Pee Records



Won’t you please welcome Titan to the fray, the band that is single-handedly saving the muddy mess of “stoner rock” from itself.



As you read this, it’s 2006 (or quite possibly 2007). It’s not the ‘70s, much as you might like it to be. But that doesn’t necessarily invalidate the music of that bygone era any more than it does the efforts of those making music today. We’re looking back at a time when bands were kept under contract by huge corporations, and everyone else more or less sank from popular view. Back then, bands would often release two albums in a year and do nothing but tour, write songs, record, party, then tour some more. The playing field has changed. The notion of cramming multiple sub-genres, no matter how closely they were related, into one another, was somewhat preposterous – up until the notion of progressive rock music came into play, the intelligent musician’s clearinghouse for new and untested ideas (many of which, again, sank without trace).



But here is a band that has done its homework, left few stones unturned, but have chosen to keep their musical vocabulary both tastefully in the pocket and dynamically inventive. To call this music progressive would be to do it a service, in the sense that Titan has merged the sludge of Mk. I heavy metal (think Black Sabbath, Lucifer’s Friend, and Uriah Heep) with the rhythmic density and dramatic arrangements of early Yes and King Crimson, the deft, filmic spook of Goblin, the hyperstructured garage of Socrates Drank the Conium, and the steady, synthetic pacing of Krautrockers like Neu! and Kraftwerk. And of course, all worthy points in between, from Hillage to High Rise.



And in listening to this album, it’s clear that the group is capable of far more than pale imitation. To be certain, they are sculpting original tropes both familiar and obscure into their own story, forging a dense and rewarding suite of songs, smart enough to hide some of its cards but reverent enough to show others. The group as a whole displays an ear for both careful composition and sonic chaos that has sadly passed over many of their contemporaries. What’s going on here is an attention to craft that borders on scholastic, one which knows how to walk the line between reverence and fakery; then, just to taunt fate, turns up just as loud, creating a range war of decimating proportions, able to knock heads clear through the back walls of rock clubs and basements all over.



Following years of search and practice, Titan guitarist Josh Anzano started the group La Otracina with percussionist Adam Kriney, keyboardist Kris D’Agostino, and bassist Dan Bates. This group, still active in name under Mr. Kriney’s tutelage, played a more florid, psychedelic counterpart to Titan’s stern, machine-tooled epics. Creative differences saw the group part ways, but the core lineup continued to rehearse, eventually adding drummer Dave Liebowitz from an earlier project. In this formation, Titan was born. The group played its first show with Zombi in early 2005, and has since toured the East Coast with Saviours, and decimated stages opening for sonic contemporaries such as Comets on Fire, Lightning Bolt, Boris, Witch, DMBQ, Blue Cheer, and Suishou no Fune.



A Raining Sun of Light and Love, For You and You and You… was recorded in Brooklyn by Steve Revitte (Black Dice, Liars, Jimmy Eat World), and captures the band live in a professional studio for the first time. Prior to the album, earlier improvisation-based efforts were self-released by the band onto CDR, in addition to a limited edition debut album on the British label, Paradigms. This album is their first work for the Tee Pee label; may there be many more.



Tee Pee Records

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