By: Peter Gaston
When Tom Vek’s “I Ain’t Saying My Goodbyes” came shimmying across the Atlantic in early 2005 — with loads of cache from MP3 blogs and NME readers — it was an instant add to just about every dance rock DJ’s playlist. This jam was the GMC truck of dance rock: total professional grade, from the moment that urgent, scratchy guitar opening gave way to that earth-shaking (needless to say, ass-moving) bassline. And then there’s Vek’s voice, two parts Luke Jenner’s Rapture-ous yelp, one part Tom Jones’ panty-melting croon. As a standalone statement, though, “Goodbyes” might have only set a few feet ablaze before getting left out on the dance floor, right where it blossomed in the first place.
But as Vek’s full-length We Have Sound makes its way westward across the sea, it’s doing more of a shuffle than a shimmy, and looking mighty cool in the process. The total package reveals Vek as a studio alchemist, most prominently a disciple of vastly underrated ’90s patchwork popsters Soul Coughing. While “I Ain’t Saying My Goodbyes” comes on loud and fast with big, broad strokes, tracks like “Cover” and “The Lower the Sun” derive their beauty from the offbeat ways in which Vek opts to piece together verse, chorus, and bridge, employing a stand-up bass here or a fuzzy organ there. More chiba, please! There are also a few dirty, dirty slow jams, particularly the riveting “If You Want,” the sexiest rock song you’re going to hear this year. “If you want to feel, then we’d better start touching,” moans Vek midway through, and compliance is mandatory.
Could be Vek’s a right sexy guy; he wrote and recorded the vast majority of We Have Sound by his very lonesome. Jamming since his teenage years inside his parents’ garage, Vek honed his craft with the help of Tim “Love” Lee, head honcho at tweaky British electronic label Tummy Touch. But like Soul Coughing — and bands like Luscious Jackson and Massive Attack — Vek found sturdy links between electronic music’s detached soul and rock’s invigorating swagger that ultimately defined his output. And at the tender age of 23, that output’s only bound to increase, resulting in more triumphant pond crossings for years to come.
Tom Vek tour dates:
11/4, New York, NY (The Knitting Factory) 11/5, Philadelphia, PA (The Khyber) 11/6, Washington, DC (Black Cat) 11/7, Cambridge, MA (TT the Bear’s) 11/8, Montreal, QUE (Main Hall) 11/10, Toronto, ONT (Drake Hotel) 11/11, Detroit, MI (The Shelter) 11/12, Cleveland, OH (House of Blues, Cambridge Room) 11/13, Chicago, IL (Schubas) 11/14, Minneapolis, MN (7th Street Entry) 11/18, Seattle, WA (Chop Suey) 11/19, Portland, OR (Doug Fir Lounge) 11/21, San Francisco, CA (Caf� Du Nord) 11/23, Los Angeles, CA (Troubadour)
