La ville radieuse, or the Radiant City, was an early 20th century urban planning theory that attempted to organize a modern city design for the rapidly industrializing world.  Le Corbusier, the architect responsible for this novel idea, called his Utopian model 'vertical garden cities'. Maybe the best representation for LC's vision is George Lucas' design of Cloud City, a seemingly peaceful, quiet, organized environment for working and living.  In contrast, the hideous reality of Corbusier's architectural renderings is never more clear than in modern urban icons such as public housing, whose accidental purpose segregates its city's population based on wealth instead of creating prosperous communities.  Critics would later encroach on Le Corbusier's theories as 'destructive and wasteful'.  Enter our even more modern conundrum: suburbia, the modern ‘city’ of auto-dependency, cultural disconnection, and the more visually and environmentally destructive plague of urban sprawl.

In Melbourne, Australia, as in many other places across the globe, there is a political movement to create more urban sprawl, or low-density residential development, to deal with the growing influx of human population.  The isolation of suburbia disconnects people from a city's frequent human interaction, thus soundlessly lowering the standard of living by destroying cultural values.   However, LC's Radiant City has returned from the dead almost a century later in the form of two musicians, to fight back against the silence of the environmentally degrading, anti-communities. 

Taking the form of guitar and drums instead of architectural drawings, Radiant City has crafted a short EP centered around today's urbanization misfortunes.  With track titles such as "Urban Drill" and "Auto Centro," the band seems to be making a statement about fighting the dead-end suburban model, even making the title of the EP itself very interesting.  The music’s strong points lie in the decent atmosphere of intimate instrumental rock that is created, but one can only go so far with one guitar, drums, and a few effects.  While the band seem to have a legitimate formula down for distancing themselves from the plethora of post-rock music of today, the songs lack the desirable length to really introduce any new ideas from the duo.  I wouldn’t want this Radiant City to fall victim to the ages like the misfortunes of the former City.

Listeners should enjoy the short-lived EP for what it is worth however.  With tracks like "Auto Centro" to break up the familiar monotony presented with a guitar-drum theme, I’m really interested in how the band can further develop its sound on a full-length album.  Australia seems to be crawling with relatively special instrumental acts which have claimed international recognition and have lent inspiration to small acts such as Radiant City.  While the Pulitzer Prize-winning, author/columnist Thomas L. Friedman claims the world is becoming “hot, flat, and crowded” from our unsustainable population explosion, Radiant City promises to separate themselves from the terribly crowded scene of emerging post-rock acts.   

-Brett Hayes