CATALOG

NEWS

"Why isn’t band more popular?!... Spurts of Battles and Don Caballero can be heard often during A Tempo! A Tempo!, but far less flashy and overly technical. At certain points one might have to double check their player to see if it is still Valina playing and not Fugazi or Unwound. Comparisons to each of these bands are warranted, but not exorbitant. Valina takes calls from post-punk, math-rock and indie but mashes them all together and turns the dial up to 11. Before I proceed to explain why Valina is so great or not so great, let me get this out of the way, A Tempo! A Tempo! is produced by Steve Albini... Valina’s A Tempo! A Tempo! is a wonderful piece of music. Seemlessly combining all of their favorite influences in a tight knit package that is easily enjoyable and accessible. The biggest hurdle to overcome is the vocals, which are rarely seen coupled with this type of music. Valina has put forth an excellent effort that is both unique and fun, and that is all someone could really ask for."
Sputnik Music

"Mathy instrumental rock from Austria which is able to stand out from the pack. Bands of this genre tend to blend together too much at times it seems. These guys are really tight and slick (European) with their sound which might turn some people on or off depending on how rough you like it (your math rock that is)."
Sound As Language

"...gritty, riffy math rock that sticks to a steady diet of frisky drums and heavy riffs with occasional horns and full-fledged melodies."
Nuvo

"Mathy post-punk genre-mash... Mix Battles' time changes and Shellac's soft/loud dynamics and, in a nutshell, you've got Valina. Fans of either should like this band, though Valina is more melodic and accessible in approach."
Scene Point Blank

"...a sound that's sure to catch the ear of the horn-rimmed glasses set as well as forward-thinking pop-punkers. A Tempo! A Tempo! has an organic live feel due to the analog production and the bass/drum interplay... This band, oddly enough, bridges the gap between ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead and At The Drive-In."
Harder Beat

"The third full-length release from Austria's Valina. This band writes and records complex progressive modern rock (almost math-rock at times)...while their lead vocalist sounds very much like a cross between John Lydon and Paul Weller (?!?). A Tempo! A Tempo! was released in Europe in 2008 and is now being distributed throughout the United States thanks to the folks at Joyful Noise. The songs on this album are never predictable. Valina tunes feature strange jagged guitars, odd time signatures, and plenty of frantic stops and starts...a far cry from the average twenty-first century band who simply flails mindlessly into oblivion. Eleven perplexing tracks here including 'Calendaria,' 'Dogged,' 'Mehrklang,' and 'Libidos Regime.' Odd, out-of-the-ordinary music."
babysue

"What do you get when you mix the ferocity of punk rock with the melodicism of The Jam and throw in the odd tricky time signature for good measure? Valina are a basic three piece band hailing from Austria. They have a distinct European sound sometimes reminiscent of The Jam with a modern approach that occasionally straddles the boundaries of math-rock... If you appreciate the technical aspect of math rock and love a good melody here and there, this album should satisfy. Recommended for all lovers of riff-based heavy music."
Sea Of Tranquility

"If you're looking for a pungent dose of tight musicianship and complex, hard-hitting rhythms, A Tempo! A Tempo! is a headbanger of an album for the geek side of the post-hardcore scene... The obvious nuts-and-bolts of Valina is drummer Anselm Duerrschmid. He's like the conductor of the band; all ears depend on him and his offbeat, rapid-fire double-bass beats for their cues. Whereas Natol Bogendorfer's guitar and Husbert Huber's bass often resort to repetitive licks - functioning more as a percussive element rather than the melody - Duerrschmid's complicated beats act as the character driving the music. In this role reversal, Albini's signature percussion-in-the-forefront production technique pays off especially well here."
Spectrum Culture

"...they rock. Yes, it does come down to that. You can noodle around with intersecting lines and see where unconnected ideas might lead, but in the end you have to rock. And Valina rocks with a vengeance."
Aiding & Abetting

"Valina is from Australia. The only thing that gives this away is the vocals. I feel their sound is distinctly influenced by American bands. Fuck it. Three bands whose styles I hear on this album, in this order: Jawbox, Bear Vs Shark (I know,) and Faraquet. Here's a sentence you've probably read before: this album was recorded by Steve Albini. Mr. Anal-Log's production helps these tunes sound the way they ought to...loud and live! The songs are well-rounded. The drummer hits really hard, and he is just an animal."
Listen To This Once

"Valina are one of the best bands in Austria... They set an example both in terms of the music and in the way they do the business side. Over the course of the last decade they have built their own idiomatic musical language and they constantly expand and reform it. Live they are impeccably sharp and in time, playing as tightly as I ever heard a band from this country play (usually bands from Austria are too lazy or too tired from complaining to play decent shows...) and finally they have built up hit songs that they may play at the end of shows to make the crowd cheer. On record their striking features are in sound and dynamics and in the structure of songs and melodies. They will arrange little melodies, that may never leave your head, in a way that they will surprise you when you hear them, no matter how many times you have heard them. And all of this still as the basic three piece rock band outfit."
Punk Globe

"Based in Austria and now entering their second decade, Valina are a band that seem to keen to replicate the sound of their fellow mid-90s contemporaries... with the menacing nature of the backing music unrelenting"
Tasty Fanzine

"This is Valina at their best, merging math-rock and post-hardcore with a swagger to some of the tunes that I don't think I can really recall on some of their past releases. (#16 album of 2008)"
Built On A Weak Spot

"...for a band of only three, they have the capacity to blow a listener away... Like so many post-rock groups, it is almost impossible to box Valina's sound into one genre. Throughout the album they could be categorized as post-punk, noise rock, math rock and even jam band with an alternative edge. Their unique sound is difficult to compare with almost any other band that came before, but there is definite influence from the American underground and punk movements in the pounding beats and guitar riffs of tracks like "Calendaria" and "Eyes Window" and in the vocal styling of "Idiom's Palace" and "Phantom of My Longest Day." ...Beautiful bass lines and melodies in "Belly Dancer" and "Per Sonare" give way to explosions of guitar noise and insane beats from the drums, which are showcased in nearly every song, creating a truly well-rounded collection of songs... Strange creativity and genre blending make Valina one of the best post-rock bands right now. 4 stars out of 5."
The Badger Herald

"The album is a mish-mash of eclectic post-punk, instrumental rock, guitar-wankering art-rock, and some slightly off-putting vocals. It's something anyone who enjoyed At the Drive-In could get into."
Decoy Music

"With an expansive sound which is musically complex, yet without compromising its' integrity refuses to be excessively noisy, self-indulgent or inaccessible, "A Tempo! A Tempo!" is a mightily impressive piece of work which underlines their credentials as potential saviours of post-rock. A major clue to their abilities is provided by the presence of Steve Albini on production duties; never a man to work with anyone but the very best. "A Tempo! A Tempo!" is a varied, rounded and well-composed record which fills me with hope for a very bright future for Valina. Definitely not one to be missed."
Subba Cultcha

"Valina are a conundrum wrapped up in a paradox... Time changes are the name of the game for these guys. Drummer Anselm Duerrschmid and bassist Florian Husbert Huber combine with Bogendorfer to sound like some kind of cross between a progressive rock group, a punk trio, a dizzyingly creative jazz band, or an alternative jam band. A lot of the tunes, "Per Solare" for instance, are grounded in a solid grunge sound, with heavy rhythms and dissonant guitars. Aided by the slick production of Steve Albini (Veruca Salt), A Tempo! A Tempo! pounds your skull with its oddly melodic tracks and fist-pumping riffs."
Stereo Subversion

"A real genre bender by nature, Valina's A Tempo! A Tempo! is riff heavy, bass driven art/noise rock that is produced by the legendary Steve Albini (Shellac, Big Black). As a result it has that distinct spooky echo and thud Albini sound. For the most part the instrumentation on this album is sharp and angular with a thick, gooey layer of bass guitar poured over the top. Throw in some tempo changes and the shrill vocals for a real seat of your pants, 0 to 60, stop on a dime, gravity defying ride."
Fracture Magazine / Prick Magazine

"Savage math rock riffage and astounding musicianship meet one another on this stellar release, produced by Steve Albini...Austrian math rockers Valina bring with them new meaning to the old cliche "power trio." Bands twice this size would have a difficult time generating the kind of thundering presence felt on A Tempo! A Tempo! But despite the purgative overtones, Anatol Bogendorfer (vocals, guitar), Florian Husbert Huber (bass), and Anselm Durrschmid (drums) have always brought a keen sense of melodicism and emotional depth to a genre largely derided for its emphasis on technical prowess and obscure references to the Fibonacci sequence... Maybe the best part of all is that you don't need even need to know what hemiolas or polyrhythms are in order to enjoy A Tempo! A Tempo!. While there's enough virtuosic playing here to keep the chop monsters and gear heads happy, the album's greatest asset is its broad spectrum of pop accessibility: it's a disc worth owning, and a band worth watching."
Delusions Of Adequacy

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