Tussle

San Francisco’s Tussle have been releasing material since 2003, and in that time they’ve delivered two albums and a handful of EPs that have been met with modest interest. Cream Cuts, their third album, capitalizes on the dub-y dance rock they’ve produced on albums past by expanding their definition of dance music beyond the rock-centric, skeletal post-punk/Krautrock aesthetic they pursued on 2004’s Kling Klang and 2006’s Telescope Mind. This time, Tussle embrace more tricks from the house and techno bags, and tracks like "Saturnism” and "Night of the Hunter” pack a lot more energy for it. Deeper, tighter grooves result in Cream Cuts being an improvement over previous work. This change of gears may have something to do with bassist Tomo Yasuda and new producer Thom Monahan joining the fold, or it may simply be a matter of evolving tastes and experience; either way, Cream Cuts is the sure statement of a band getting better all the time.