Macon Greyson,
Translate

Label: Fat Caddy Records
Year: 2005

(4½ out of 5)

Macon Greyson is a band with astonishing range. On Translate, Buddy Huffman and company shift easily between punk and pop, alt rock and alt.country—openly defying simple categorization.

I can't hear the opening track, "Save Us All," without thinking of the Christopher Walken "more cowbell" spoof of Blue Oyster Cult on Saturday Night Live a few years back. But that's about the only thing on Translate that brings comedy to mind.

This is an album that makes a bold social and political statement. "Million Hearts" pierces the isolationism that leads so many Americans to neglect the global community at large. The Ramones cover "My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down" connects the current White House regime with the Reagan era.

Most forecful of all is "PCS," a twangy blast against Toby Keith and other blindly patriotic songsters who support the Bush administration: So shut up, play guitar and write a song / And tell me how to feel / Play your worthless country song if you'll tell me how to feel / ... How will I know what to think if you don't tell me how to feel.

While Macon Greyson has an agenda of sorts, it's also a band that can just plain rock.

"Sidetracked," "Strung Up," and "Own" mine post-grunge rock for all it's worth. "Patchwork Alibis" and "Blue Side" would sound right at home on any archival Uncle Tupelo album, while "Come Inside" is reminiscent of Wilco's "Hell Is Chrome."

"Translate" is the album's centerpiece—a 6-minute-plus, guitar-driven opus of mistaken intent. The failure to communicate, which seems to be Translate's overarching message, is captured nicely in this one song.

Erik Herbst, of Denton's The Pandhandle House recording studio, mixed the instrumental and vocal tracks beautifully. It must have been challenging to engineer such a sonically diverse album, yet Herbst and Macon Greyson deliver a streamlined, coherent sound throughout.

Translate is a gorgeous album by one of Dallas's most noteworthy bands.

Buy: Lone Star Music, Amazon

May 13, 2005