Macha

Athens, Georgia-based trio, Macha have always thrown something interesting into the pool of indie rock, building a library of Krautrock-hugging grooves with tinges of traditional Asian sounds over their eight years together. Their long overdue third album, Forget Tomorrow, seems to have traded in their delightfully exotic post-rock style for a shiny, new direction that tinkers with more rock-based structures, like the popular disco punk craze. It’s hardly a preview of the next album from the Rapture, but there’s a lot more jump in the band’s step, with the help of an exhausted hi-hat. Their avant-garde signature is still present all over the record, like on "Now Disappearing,” however, things feel a little less electrifying and a lot less experimental. "Smash & Grab,” for instance, is simply a Clinic song without solid vocals, and "From The Merak Lounge” wanders around aimlessly with a cluster of useless samples that only makes the song messier. The album’s one true shining moment, "Calming Passengers,” comes far too late into the game. Forget Tomorrow unfortunately makes you want to forget about Macha, because they’ve obviously forgotten where they came from.