People who read the content of (((O))) regularly would have noticed our new developed love for San Diego based band Sleep Lady. Interestingly, guitarist in said band Mario Quintero is also active in another project called Machines Learning, but in this case demonstrating his skills as a drummer. Mario met guitarist/singer Paul Balmer when the former was producing the album I’ll Know To Believe In Sparrows by another San Diego band called Immovable Objects, which also has been given some love on (((O))) a while ago. Bass player Bradley Botbyl was added and voilà, Machines Learning was born.
Interestingly, both Sleep Lady and Immovable Objects are instrumental bands, whereas Machines Learning uses a slightly different formula, as they play heavy alternative rock, which brings back many memories to the early 90s. They recently released their second EP Success Has Many Fathers While Failure is an Orphan. With 3 tracks this release is on the slightly shorter side, but it perfectly demonstrates the message Machines Learning wants to throw out to the world, namely going back to the essence of heavy rock with the minimum amount of instruments needed to do so.
This EP actually starts with a beautiful instrumental track called Strong Men Also Cry, which, especially during the opening minutes, draws parallels to Sleep Lady and Immovable Objects. But then Machine Learning’s heavy rock sound kick in with deep, almost sludgy distorted guitar riffs and a heavy bass sound all played over slow hitting drums. This track ends with a long outro falling back to similar musical structures as heard in those intro minutes. It feels like this opener is actually one big intro track laying the foundations for the next song.
This second song The Island In The Hills instantly kicks of with something different. Balmer’s slight distorted vocals provide the opening to this song, sang over a couple of distorted guitar cords. Then Quintero’s big drums blast into the song to open it all up. Botbyl’s bass sound is beautifully heavy and steadily drives the song with the help of Quintero’s great drum work, using lots of fills and little subtle stops. The vocals continue in using this distorted effect and Balmer has this dreamy voice, almost pushing them a bit to the back of the music, but after a couple of listens I catch myself starting to hum along to them. I can’t however stop drawing musical comparisons to some great guitar bands from said 90s, and especially the early Smashing Pumpkins come to mind.
The third and final track Pentuckett Blues is the shortest song on this EP and continues where the previous track finished, but with a lot more focus on the bass guitar, which starts this song with a complicated and almost funky bass line, drawing another comparison to a great guitar band, namely The Jesus Lizard. The drum work is again very sound and it demonstrates how versatile Quintero is as a musician. Balmer continues with dreamy almost hypnotic vocals guiding you through this song, which in contrast to the other 2 tracks ends rather abruptly.
The band is in a great position with Quintero running his own recording studio, and he did a great job recording and producing this EP, really bringing all the instruments together in a dynamic sounding mix.
This very pleasant EP provides a great start to this New Year. The only negative I have with this EP is that it is only 3 songs long, of which the opening track feels more like a huge intro track. It would have been great if the band had included 1 or 2 more tracks to this to complement my listening experience. However, considering their first EP Pendagron’s Lullaby was released only a half year earlier, I am pretty sure we can expect more to come from Machines Learning in 2013.
This EP is available as a free download from their bandcamp site. And while you’re at it, you can download their first EP too, which I recommend as well.
Posted by Sander van den Driesche
