Turnstile — Time & Space
One of the most polarizing bands in modern hardcore returns with another slab of good vibes and righteous rhythms.
At this point, trying to talk about a Turnstile album seems to turn into one of two things for most people: defending why said person likes the band or talking about how much said person really, really doesn’t like Turnstile.
Most recently, there was a confusing review by NPR that seemed completely confused about how the band would be able to bring this new sound to their live show — which is a completely bananas angle to take about this band. Another stand out was the garbage work done by Pitchfork (nothing new on that front). Anyone who talks about Time & Space and even once mentions Deftones should be put on mute, blocked, unfriended, reported, and deleted out of your phone.
I like Time & Space.
It could definitely offer more, but it could also offer so, so, so much less than it does. I understand that I’m old by a lot of hardcore music standards, and all the more as a person who actively uses a blog. But maybe the fact that I grew up on older sounds gives me a different perspective. What I think most people are trying to express about the sound and vibe of Turnstile is some connection to 90s culture and sound — I agree. I just don’t think it’s the cornball culture that people use to troll this band.
I hear sounds on this album that have a heavy 90s alternative vibe, but nothing close to Rage Against the Machine, 311. Indeed, a lot of this just sounds like some of the biggest sounding bands of the 90s — rhythms that sound like they are inspired by the likes of Nirvana, Agnostic Front, H20, surf rock and everything between. It’s a bit all over the shop, but I’ve never felt like it was a stretch in the way that they tied it all together. It flows loosely, but that’s exactly what I’ve always expected from this collective. The way they throw different bits and vibes across the album might feel disjointed to some, but whether it was Cold World in the 2000s or Candiria before them, lots of artists have embraced what was the defining sounds of hardcore, added their own personality or creativity — or both — and given us something new.
Perhaps the most perplexing part of Turnstile is that it stands as an experience, a whole. While they explore different sounds throughout the album, I struggled to find any songs that I thought stood apart as great singular pieces to highlight. Instead, I just found the album to be a great listen as an album where all the individual pieces didn’t jump out, but together they make for a comprised work that I listen to frequently in full.
Whatever Turnstile is doing works for me and recalls a lot of the sounds that I grew up on and still appreciate.
