82.

Tolchock Trio
Abalone Skeletone (Exumbrella, 2008)

Very few are going to be familiar with this pick, so hopefully this nod will bring some attention to one of the best straightforward indie rock records of the decade. The band is from Salt Lake, but I promise I’m not playing favourites. I don’t even know these guys. Heck, if you asked them they probably wouldn’t even know what Forest Gospel is. Being a straightforward indie rock band, it is hard to really describe why Abalone Skeletone is significant. They remind me a little of White Denim, The National and The Walkmen, but obviously hold their own as a band being on an end-of-decade list. Bloody hooks, cut up lyrics, raw and polished all – just one of those super solid records that come around all too rarely.

-Thistle

Tolchock Trio - Abalone Skeletone

Tolchock Trio
Abalone Skeletone
(2008, Exumbrella Records)
Verdict = In a perfect world, this record would have shown up on 2008 top ten lists across the country.

Lately I have had a major itch for guitars. Not just any guitars, mind you – electric guitars! My listening habits have been almost solely devote to some of my old indie rock favourites: Fugazi, Daydream Nation, Jawbox, Dismemberment Plan, Wowee Zowee, At the Drive-in: basically anything that would send me into spontaneous air-guitar riffage while perked in my swiveling office chair; anything “angular,” slightly atonal and undyingly catchy. During my little expedition I began to wonder if I had listened to anything lately that had that same type of deliciousness. Then on a whim I picked up Abalone Skeletone. For those who don’t live on the Wasatch Front this album holds no name recognition, but for anyone with even the slightest inclination towards homegrown Salt Lake City rock, Tolchock Trio is it. I didn’t used to believe that. In fact, I didn’t used to have any interest in this band whatsoever, but somehow, by some act of inspiration I decided to rethink my unfounded disinterest and offer Abalone Skeletone a fair chance. Tolchock Trio has been around for quite sometime. In fact, I think there was a time that they were an actual trio; however, the insert in Skeletone displays the picture of five apparent band members (so, it should be Tolchock “Quintet”?). Anywho, all trivialities aside, here is the verdict (er, second verdict): Abalone Skeletone is incredible. This is indie rock done right. This is that classic, timeless indie rock of old that I have been pining for weeks. I never imagined that it would pop up in my own sleepy backyard, but alas Tolchock Trio is the real deal. Tolchock Trio achieve more than the sum over their parts on this one, pushing guitars bass, drums and vocals from discordant beginnings addictively harmonious ends We don’t really do local favors around these parts and, to be honest, I don’t even have a clue who the members of Tolchock Trio are, but to call Abalone Skeletone anything less than one of the best albums from 2008 would be sinful.

-Mr. Thistle

Tolchock Trio on Myspace