Sparta

When At the Drive-In, the greatest multiracial post-punk band ever from El Paso, Texas, broke up three years ago, half of its members formed Sparta and began ambling down a road from Over the Top Town to Well-Meaning Dullsville. Wiretap Scars, Sparta's 2002 debut, was At the Drive-In with none...

By Mikael Wood

July 15, 2004

[
        {
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Inline Content - Mobile Display Size",
          "component": "18478561",
          "insertPoint": "2",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "2"
        },{
          "name": "Editor Picks",
          "component": "16759093",
          "insertPoint": "4",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "1"
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "17980324",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "16759092",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "17980324",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 24
        },{
          "name": "Air - Leaderboard Tower - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "16759094",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 24
        }
      ]

When At the Drive-In, the greatest multiracial post-punk band ever from El Paso, Texas, broke up three years ago, half of its members formed Sparta and began ambling down a road from Over the Top Town to Well-Meaning Dullsville. Wiretap Scars, Sparta's 2002 debut, was At the Drive-In with none of the original act's energy and all of the earnest emo piety it somehow avoided. On Porcelain, Sparta seems to consider reversing directions: "Hiss the Villain" is a breakneck blast of sharp-edged guitar fuzz and spiraling strings, with singer Jim Ward giving his typically murky lyric a refreshing immediacy, and in "La Cerca," rhythm sectioneers Tony Hajjar and Matt Miller manage to inject a little swing into the band's stiff-legged grind. Elsewhere, the band deepens its attack with the occasional post-Radiohead synth squiggle or slo-mo power-ballad tempo. But these guys remain some of alt-rock's most serious, humorless practitioners. Hopefully they'll take a lesson from their tour mates this summer, Incubus; they once put out a record called Fungus Amongus.

KEEP NEW TIMES FREE... Since we started New Times, it has been defined as the free, independent voice of Phoenix, and we'd like to keep it that way. Your membership allows us to continue offering readers access to our incisive coverage of local news, food, and culture with no paywalls. You can support us by joining as a member for as little as $1.