Trading on Tragedy?

We must get past the name. When Dan Gellar and his partner (in many ways), Amy Dykes, released their debut, Out of the Loop, in summer 2001 on the Kindercore label (which he runs with Ryan Lewis), what they called the pairing was perhaps an afterthought. Things like naming one’s band were not considered with life-and-death import. It was a different time.

After all, as Gellar would admit later, they weren't entirely sure what they were doing. Gellar, a former member of the indie pop band Kincaid, and Dykes, who had little prior musical experience at all, were releasing a cute, loopy electronic album recorded entirely on Gellar's laptop.

The name was grand. It was symbolic, in their minds, of their musical and romantic partnership; it was also cheeky as this was, after all, a duo performing music any description of which inevitably included the word "twee."

"I probably did lose sleep over it, but I guess everybody was, at the time," admits Gellar of the obvious question of whether to change the band name in the wake of the nation's post-attack angst. "It was really annoying, this albatross, almost. ... We finally made the decision that the world was ready to accept it."

The flap was minor compared with the hot water that hip-hop act The Coup found themselves in (the original artwork, done pre-attack, for their Party Music album featured an eerily prescient image of the twin towers aflame). But there were still options to weighed. In England, the decision was made for the Athens, Ga., group; Out of the Loop was released with the tag I Am the World. They also considered renaming themselves The Twin Powers. But speculation officially comes to an end with the release of The Tight Connection, the sophomore long-player by Gellar and Dykes, still known, respectfully, as I Am the World Trade Center.

Whether the duo felt pressure to step up their efforts as a result is unclear, but in comparison with Out of the Loop's yearling coyness, The Tight Connection is more assured, technically and artistically. Gellar, a biological engineer during the day, upgraded his laptop and software. The songwriting was more collaborative. For Out of the Loop, Dykes (currently finishing her master's in interior and fabric design) more or less added vocals to Gellar's already-finished backing tracks. With The Tight Connection, he recorded basic loops and sequences, she wrote vocals, and the two sat down and arranged the tracks together.

The bleepy, lo-fi charm of Out of the Loop is bolstered and transmuted into housey, new wave bombast on The Tight Connection.

"I've always learned to think very linearly, and that translates into the music I make," explains Gellar of the workings of his beautiful engineering mind. "Then Amy comes in and completely messes that up -- in a good way. Without her, I think it would sound like music made by an engineer."

There's certainly a whole lot more soul here. Dykes steps up the diva factor, dominating tracks where previously her vocals felt subdued. Gellar's backing tracks feel like assured dance numbers rather than happy, danceable accidents. It's not to say that the bedroom feel of Out of the Loop isn't missed, but listen to the duo in action on the hurt-so-good disco of "The Postcard" ("You don't want to see it/ how you make me feel it/ I don't want to make it go away") or the slow-salve of "California Dreaming Again" ("Just forget your face/ I'm California dreaming again/ not thinking about love/ don't care about love") and you won't so much mind. They even have the gumption to render Blondie's "Call Me" in their blippy image.

It might seem odd for a couple of indie rock kids to delve into dance music (to be sure, they've still got some work to do before they move entirely out of the novelty ghetto). But according to Gellar, whose label cut its teeth on too-cute indie rock, this is the kind of stuff he gravitates toward.

It's all part of a trend in recent years (outfits like Looper, hollAnd and The Beta Band come to mind), breaking down the barriers between indie rock and dance music, two genres once as mutually exclusive as there were. The availability of cheap software (Acid 3.0 and Fruity Loops are responsible for most of The Tight Connection) and less-expensive hardware (thank the Nord Micro Modular) opened the floodgates, according to Gellar.

And while I Am the World Trade Center might not be sharing bills with the world's Paul Oakenfolds in the near future, they're busy making another name for themselves as a good-time party act.

"I've been faced with the reality that we're not musicians," says Gellar (who also performs in a rock band, The Agenda). "We're performers, encouraging the crowd to get involved and have fun. We dance the whole time. ... We try to start a party."

I Am the World Trade Center will perform an all-ages show on Tue., May 21, 5 p.m., $7, with The Busy Signals and Triangle, at The Fire, 412 W. Girard Ave., 267-671-9298.

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