Audio Out Send
Café Du Nord
March 17, 2004

Review by Jake Thomas

Once upon a time, I got a mystery package in the mail that contained the Audio Out Send CD. “How did they get my address?” I wondered. Not that I mind just getting surprise shipments of CDs in the mail, it just caught me off guard. And then to top it off, the CD was damn good. Free, quality music randomly appearing at my house? Yes please! Turns out Zach from Rogue Wave turned them onto me, and so a thanks goes out to him.

Anyways, turns out they were going to be playing a free show at Café du Nord (yes, more free! It really plays well into my cheapness), so I made a point to go. I’d been wondering how their sound would translate live anyways.

The first thing that struck me was how tight the band was - like the proverbial “well-oiled machine” everyone talks about. Although I love a sloppy show as much as the next guy, it’s always nice to see this level of professionalism out of a band. As for their sound translating to a live setting, it went well I thought. Their record seems to rely heavily much of the time on electronic bits and beeps and burps, and while present live the guitars really dominated the sound much more. It almost fell into a shoegaze-type of sound ala Starflyer 59 some of the time (a favorite band of mine for those keeping score). Other than that, I always have a tough time
describing exactly what Audio Out Send sound like – maybe a little bit of Grandaddy, some 80’s pop such as Echo & the Bunnymen or Psychedelic Furs, dunno what else. It’s a fairly original sound I think, but one that sounds easily recognizable. It’s the sound you get when you blend your influences into a new concoction instead of just ripping them off like so many do. Check out the CD,check them out live, both are fine examples of what this whole music thing is all about.


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