In 2011, Trans Am founder Phil Manley put out a pretty piece of krautrock-flavored nostalgia under his own name called Life Coach. Built upon beds of vintage synths and drawing on his experience producing for neo-krauts Moon Duo and Wooden Shijps, Manley used drum machines to dial into an especially delicious motorik groove. Two years later, though, he’s roped in a kindred spirit to form a project of the same name: drummer Jon Theodore, Manley’s former bandmate in Golden (also of the Mars Volta and One Day as a Lion). And under the Life Coach moniker, Theodore has supplanted those drum machines with live percussion, loosening up the often mechanized feel of Manley’s last in the process. But aside from the name, Manley’s new material really bears little similarity to Life Coach, favoring openness and dilation instead, even on heavier tracks like “Mind’s Eye” and “Into the Unknown.” It took a live drummer to make it happen, but Manley’s finally finding into his own special post-rock sweet spot.
Pre-order Alphawaves here.
:audio=0:112103:playlist:Life Coach, Alphawaves:
