Time Machine: The Stray Anthology 1970-1977 is heavy listening. The RAWK-ASS self-titled debut, Stray, fits squarely in the middle of heavy rock's first creative boom in 1970, while the next year's Suicide features some seriously heavy lead(LED?)guitar to back up the lyrics' Bloodrock-worthy morbidity. These two were both cut when the band were teenagers. Apparently they released ten albums before breaking up in 1977, so as you can imagine there were a few rushed efforts there. The later half of Stray's career slackens somewhat into boogie territory, but the group is capable of some serious fireworks and a few fine tunes when inspired. These guys could play and showed it best when they stretched out. I'm working my way though this thing still, I have a pile of stuff that I haven't even got to yet. Most of these records are out of print anyways, but chances are that 2 and a half hours of Stray will be more than enough for most heavy rock fans to get inside unabashedly bar-rockin' trip.
As when discovering any long lost band of the golden age of experimentation and excitement in rock, (roughly 1968-1973 and referred to as the Cosmic Portal by some) always consider the cardinal facets of rock excavation:
1. ALWAYS start with the first album. Work your way forward from there.
2. The longest songs are ALWAYS the best.
Anyways, like most good rock n' roll bands ever formed, Stray have a melodic voice, and ultimately the desire to let that voice speak grows stronger over time as the rewards to do so increase and as the players' proximity to their own teen years shrinks. As they age, rockers develop as musicians and become more skilled in the manipulation of the music's form, but in doing so they inevitably lose the spontaneity and enthusiasm that characterizes their most vital work. The technical know-how of equipment/songwriting/performance/ experience gradually subsumes the primal urge to create a racket in the first place. Greatness lies in balancing the conflicting impulses.
Some groups reach the optimal point in their career early on, while some need a few albums to get there. A few special ones can sustain creativity at a high level for a number of years, but this is uncommon. More groups only occasionally rise above mediocrity, but create a small amount of sonically beneficial music for a short time, maybe an album or two, maybe less. Hell, some of those garage bands which the NUGGETS series has done wonders for unearthing peaked with their first 45s! Come to think of it, it's not too different from how the hype-driven world of indie-blogs seems to react to some bands today, but I digress. The point is no matter how important or talented or just flat out incredible any musician or band is, the quality of that work will decline after the artist's peak period. For some, the drop is precipitous, while a few may decline very slowly and have a long and productive career, possibly experiencing a few reversals in this trend once in a while. The decline varies in intensity, but is as irreversible as time.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Stopgap
Just stopping in to let you know I haven't given up on this thing. I haven't felt much like writing lately. I've been reading a lot actually, about music and other things. Being that this is a music blog, I guess I should let you know that Joe Carducci's Rock And The Pop Narcotic: Testament For The Electric Church and Michael Azerrad's Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes From The American Indie Underground 1981-1991 are both on my bedside table right now. The former is probably the best book I've ever read about rock itself, despite the fact that I find Carducci's many extraneous digressions pointless and am bothered by his readily apparent homophobic, racist, xenophobic, sexist and ethnocentric prejudices. No one's perfect though, and the guy has still done a better job writing seriously about rock theory than anyone else, so until I publish a rebuttal, it'll have to do. Not to mention the fact that I've discovered dozens of obscure bands, many of them of excellent quality (I'll get to those in a minute). The Azerrad book is not quite so dense, it's a more straightforward chronicle of the life and crimes of a number of seminal bands (Black Flag, The Minutemen, Dinosuar Jr. and so on... you know, the classics) The best thing about it is that it introduced me to Mission of Burma, a band I had heard of but never investigated. Their 1982 album Vs. is fantastic noisy garage pop on par with contemporary Hüsker Dü or Sonic Youth. If anything, MOB was far more advanced in their songcraft at the time, but they broke up before the underground support network built by those other bands was fully functioning. They've since reformed however and are successfully touring and putting out new records, so hey, good on them. Anyways, it just strikes me how innocent it all seems, the DIY aesthetic I mean. That these kids were able to run labels, promote scenes, start bands, tour the continent and make records all on a shoestring budget and no fall-back alternatives and without even the luxury of the internet that we sonic travelers take for granted now... it's quite remarkable.
Anyways, enough preamble. Here's what's been curling my toes recently... I've been on a major 70's hard rock kick lately. Of course, there's been other stuff, but this what I feel like telling you about. Nothing fancy, we're going with a list today!
Bedlam - Bedlam (1973)
A forgotten British hard rock band that knew where it was at. And they did it pretty heavy to boot.
Blackfeather - At The Mountains Of Madness (1970)
Australian heavy prog. This album is an absolute treat. They balance the dramatic voice-overs and Canterbury-esque pastoral reveries with plenty of sabbathy riffage.
Bloodrock (1970)
Out of Fort Worth, they were the most rockin' band in America short of the Stooges in the early 70's but they fizzled out quick. I think Terry Knight of Grand Funk fame had something to do with them too. Thier hit, 'D.O.A.' appears on the second album, but their debut is where the REAL goods are. Melvin Laid An Egg indeed!
Budgie - Bandolier (1975)
Take your pick which is the best Budgie album. I've never settled on just one myself, although this one has been getting plenty of play lately. "I 'Aint No Mountain" is probably the catchiest song the band ever wrote, while "Breaking All The House Rules" and "Napolean Bona-Parts 1 & 2" were some of the heaviest and most flat out awesome.
Coloured Balls - Ball Power (1973)
Australian heavy blues jams. For Canned Heat (or Blues Hammer) fans.
Euclid - Heavy Equipment (1970)
Really, the name says it all. Skull-crushing power trio from Maine lays it down.
The Flow - The Flow's Greatest Hits (1972)
Like these guys had hits. It's heavy psych through and through, with plenty of fuzz-wah guitar freakouts.
Grand Funk Railroad - Live (1971)
Capturing the top American concert draw of the early 70's at their lunk-headed live peak. Plenty of songs here outshine the studio versions, and there is some particularly tasty bong-rattling bass from Mr. Mel Shacher throughout. Bonus points for Mark Farner's unintentionally hilarious stage banter and Don Brewer's always competent drum work.
Jerusalem - Jerusalem (1972)
The song "Primitive Man" is sluggish boneheaded riffage at its finest. The rest is very good non-classic rock.
Leaf Hound - Growers Of Mushroom (1971)
'Freelance Fiend' is officially one of my favourite songs ever. The rest is all excellent hard rock from this unfortunately short-lived band.
Luv Machine - Whatever Turns You On (1971)
Recently re-issued with some killer bonus tracks on double vinyl. Props to Ben at Neptoon Records for the hot tip on this one. It's all good, though I'd pick "Reminiscing" as the standout.
The Master's Apprentices - Masterpiece (1970)
An Australian garage band that started out worshipping the Stones in the late 60's then graduated to heavier prog-influenced material at the turn of the decade. Both phases are worth checking out.
Mystic Siva - Under The Influence (1971)
A Great long-lost heavy psych artifact. Trippy, groovy fuzzed out acid rock.
Shiver - San Fransisco's Shiver (1972)
These guys played heavy biker rock spiked with Blue Cheer's acid around San Francisco just as the good vibes were turning heavy in the late 60's. The Hell's Angels were frequent and vocal supporters of the band.
Sir Lord Baltimore - Kingdom Come (1970)
This just might be the ultimate rock 'n' roll album, with all the good and the bad of what that implies rolled up in one heavy, fuzzy ball of testosterone, leather jackets, tight jeans and long hair.
Stray - Anthology (1970-1977)
By far all that anyone would ever need from this band. 35(!) Tracks of heavy, boozy boogie from these long lost longhairs. Crack a beer and let those grooves roll.
Speed, Glue & Shinki - Eve (1971) Much heavier on their feet than countrymen the Flower Travellin' Band, these Japanese maniacs made HEAVY power-trio rock with plenty of overt drug references.
Spooky Tooth - Spooky Two (1969)
Ignore the one ballad here, and the rest of the album is a winner. Judas Priest even covered the infamous "Better By You, Better Than Me."
Tin House - Tin House (1971)
Michigan rockers released this one album of catchy heaviness. 100% Rock. 0% Bullshit.
Vanilla Fudge - Vanilla Fudge (1967)
The band that invented 70's arena rock. Oh yeah, they did it in the mid 60's too. This album is all covers, but they are all given a suitably heavy treatment by the mighty rhythm section of Carmine Appice and Tim Bogert.
Warhorse - Warhorse (1970) Apparently one of these guys was the original bass player for Deep Purple. This record stands on its own merit though. This single heavy blast was all that this band released, but few bands directly influenced by Sabbath were as close to the masters as these guys were. Wonder what happened to 'em?
West, Bruce & Laing - Why Dontcha (1972)
THESE GUYS LOOK LIKE THE MELVINS!!! - Noah's priceless reaction to seeing this album at Scratch. Mountain may have broken up, but two thirds of the band returned with Jack Bruce and kept right on rocking through the early `70s.
Anyways, enough preamble. Here's what's been curling my toes recently... I've been on a major 70's hard rock kick lately. Of course, there's been other stuff, but this what I feel like telling you about. Nothing fancy, we're going with a list today!
Bedlam - Bedlam (1973)
A forgotten British hard rock band that knew where it was at. And they did it pretty heavy to boot.
Blackfeather - At The Mountains Of Madness (1970)
Australian heavy prog. This album is an absolute treat. They balance the dramatic voice-overs and Canterbury-esque pastoral reveries with plenty of sabbathy riffage.
Bloodrock (1970)
Out of Fort Worth, they were the most rockin' band in America short of the Stooges in the early 70's but they fizzled out quick. I think Terry Knight of Grand Funk fame had something to do with them too. Thier hit, 'D.O.A.' appears on the second album, but their debut is where the REAL goods are. Melvin Laid An Egg indeed!
Budgie - Bandolier (1975)
Take your pick which is the best Budgie album. I've never settled on just one myself, although this one has been getting plenty of play lately. "I 'Aint No Mountain" is probably the catchiest song the band ever wrote, while "Breaking All The House Rules" and "Napolean Bona-Parts 1 & 2" were some of the heaviest and most flat out awesome.
Coloured Balls - Ball Power (1973)
Australian heavy blues jams. For Canned Heat (or Blues Hammer) fans.
Euclid - Heavy Equipment (1970)
Really, the name says it all. Skull-crushing power trio from Maine lays it down.
The Flow - The Flow's Greatest Hits (1972)
Like these guys had hits. It's heavy psych through and through, with plenty of fuzz-wah guitar freakouts.
Grand Funk Railroad - Live (1971)
Capturing the top American concert draw of the early 70's at their lunk-headed live peak. Plenty of songs here outshine the studio versions, and there is some particularly tasty bong-rattling bass from Mr. Mel Shacher throughout. Bonus points for Mark Farner's unintentionally hilarious stage banter and Don Brewer's always competent drum work.
Jerusalem - Jerusalem (1972)
The song "Primitive Man" is sluggish boneheaded riffage at its finest. The rest is very good non-classic rock.
Leaf Hound - Growers Of Mushroom (1971)
'Freelance Fiend' is officially one of my favourite songs ever. The rest is all excellent hard rock from this unfortunately short-lived band.
Luv Machine - Whatever Turns You On (1971)
Recently re-issued with some killer bonus tracks on double vinyl. Props to Ben at Neptoon Records for the hot tip on this one. It's all good, though I'd pick "Reminiscing" as the standout.
The Master's Apprentices - Masterpiece (1970)
An Australian garage band that started out worshipping the Stones in the late 60's then graduated to heavier prog-influenced material at the turn of the decade. Both phases are worth checking out.
Mystic Siva - Under The Influence (1971)
A Great long-lost heavy psych artifact. Trippy, groovy fuzzed out acid rock.
Shiver - San Fransisco's Shiver (1972)
These guys played heavy biker rock spiked with Blue Cheer's acid around San Francisco just as the good vibes were turning heavy in the late 60's. The Hell's Angels were frequent and vocal supporters of the band.
Sir Lord Baltimore - Kingdom Come (1970)
This just might be the ultimate rock 'n' roll album, with all the good and the bad of what that implies rolled up in one heavy, fuzzy ball of testosterone, leather jackets, tight jeans and long hair.
Stray - Anthology (1970-1977)
By far all that anyone would ever need from this band. 35(!) Tracks of heavy, boozy boogie from these long lost longhairs. Crack a beer and let those grooves roll.
Speed, Glue & Shinki - Eve (1971) Much heavier on their feet than countrymen the Flower Travellin' Band, these Japanese maniacs made HEAVY power-trio rock with plenty of overt drug references.
Spooky Tooth - Spooky Two (1969)
Ignore the one ballad here, and the rest of the album is a winner. Judas Priest even covered the infamous "Better By You, Better Than Me."
Tin House - Tin House (1971)
Michigan rockers released this one album of catchy heaviness. 100% Rock. 0% Bullshit.
Vanilla Fudge - Vanilla Fudge (1967)
The band that invented 70's arena rock. Oh yeah, they did it in the mid 60's too. This album is all covers, but they are all given a suitably heavy treatment by the mighty rhythm section of Carmine Appice and Tim Bogert.
Warhorse - Warhorse (1970) Apparently one of these guys was the original bass player for Deep Purple. This record stands on its own merit though. This single heavy blast was all that this band released, but few bands directly influenced by Sabbath were as close to the masters as these guys were. Wonder what happened to 'em?
West, Bruce & Laing - Why Dontcha (1972)
THESE GUYS LOOK LIKE THE MELVINS!!! - Noah's priceless reaction to seeing this album at Scratch. Mountain may have broken up, but two thirds of the band returned with Jack Bruce and kept right on rocking through the early `70s.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Conclusion
Isis have broken up.
Although this is undeniably sad news, there is something to be said for quitting while you are ahead. In a society that invariably bleeds profitable forms of artistic expression white, it's good to see a great (even decade-defining) band bow out on a creative high. Last year's Wavering Radiant was yet another leap forward, expanding the band's palette with some subtle keyboard work, colouring their sound with textures and nuances that would have been unthinkable for the band that made 2000's earth-shattering but Neurosis-aping debut, Celestial. Kudos to the boys for having the good judgement to recognize when their creative vision for the band had run its course, and the courage to lay the project gracefully to rest before stagnation could set in. This is a rare and beautiful thing in rock n' roll.
The career arc of Isis showed a definite progression, an evolution from one state of being to another over the course of decade plus of innovation. Their transformation from post-sludge godheads to an elusive band of aquatic shaman was gradual and deliberate, and with each heavily laboured statement of an album they never ceased to be as powerful or exciting as their original identity as purveyors of glacial walls of deconstructed post-metal heaviness. They were eqally impressive as a live act. I had the pleasure of seeing them on both the Panopticon and In The Absence Of Truth tours and was extremely impressed both times by their dedication to crafting powerful suites of noise and distortion, the triumphant peaks and valleys of their compositions and their use of dynamics and sheer volume to physically overwhelm the senses of the listener. Truly, Isis were one of the greatest and most creative metal bands of the 00's and their relentless drive to innovate and create new works of art will be sadly missed and continually appreciated by adventurous post-rock fans, avante garde hardcore champions, roving cosmic travellers, bearded riff enthusiasts and blunted out metal heads. Best of luck to the members of Isis in all their future endeavors.
Although this is undeniably sad news, there is something to be said for quitting while you are ahead. In a society that invariably bleeds profitable forms of artistic expression white, it's good to see a great (even decade-defining) band bow out on a creative high. Last year's Wavering Radiant was yet another leap forward, expanding the band's palette with some subtle keyboard work, colouring their sound with textures and nuances that would have been unthinkable for the band that made 2000's earth-shattering but Neurosis-aping debut, Celestial. Kudos to the boys for having the good judgement to recognize when their creative vision for the band had run its course, and the courage to lay the project gracefully to rest before stagnation could set in. This is a rare and beautiful thing in rock n' roll.
The career arc of Isis showed a definite progression, an evolution from one state of being to another over the course of decade plus of innovation. Their transformation from post-sludge godheads to an elusive band of aquatic shaman was gradual and deliberate, and with each heavily laboured statement of an album they never ceased to be as powerful or exciting as their original identity as purveyors of glacial walls of deconstructed post-metal heaviness. They were eqally impressive as a live act. I had the pleasure of seeing them on both the Panopticon and In The Absence Of Truth tours and was extremely impressed both times by their dedication to crafting powerful suites of noise and distortion, the triumphant peaks and valleys of their compositions and their use of dynamics and sheer volume to physically overwhelm the senses of the listener. Truly, Isis were one of the greatest and most creative metal bands of the 00's and their relentless drive to innovate and create new works of art will be sadly missed and continually appreciated by adventurous post-rock fans, avante garde hardcore champions, roving cosmic travellers, bearded riff enthusiasts and blunted out metal heads. Best of luck to the members of Isis in all their future endeavors.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Ode
R.I.P. Ronnie James Dio July 10, 1942-May 16, 2010
Though the Sacred Heart of the Master of the Moon no longer beats, my he rule his kingdom of Rainbows in the Dark forever. Farewell Dio, we shall ride the cosmos together when next we meet again. 'Till then, I've got Holy Diver to remember you by.
Though the Sacred Heart of the Master of the Moon no longer beats, my he rule his kingdom of Rainbows in the Dark forever. Farewell Dio, we shall ride the cosmos together when next we meet again. 'Till then, I've got Holy Diver to remember you by.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Knuckleduster
If I could have been worked with any musical act at any point in history, I would have been a roadie for Goatsnake circa the turn of the millennium. No band in history has ever quite so vividly described through sound the godlike feeling of power that comes from riding a sizzling hot Harley across a desert highway. You can bet some good times were had on those tours.
Greg Anderson's biker doom titans are finally releasing their long out of print 2000 CE album Flower Of Disease on Southern Lord, not to mention re-forming for a few dates sometime soon if we're lucky. You know what? I'm gonna say it. Goatsnake were fuckin' awesome. And if you happen to be unacquainted with these monsters, let me just say that you can't argue with a group of rock n' rollers whose credentials include stints in the Obsessed, Sunn O))), Thorr's Hammer, Scream, Asva and Burning Witch. A solid cross section of sludgecore, punk, stoner rock, black metal and doom you think? Nah, Goatsnake don't go in for your obscure genre categorizations. It's just heavy rock, and who can't get behind that? Surely we've all spent enough time rocking out in smoky rec rooms and basements to set aside our differences and enjoy some mammoth riffs, hedonistic manly rock god vocals, massive sing along hooks and a seriously heavy-duty mix courtesy of Nick Raskulinecz.
Here's footage from the first Goatsnake show in 5 years at this year's Roadburn festival at Tillburg in the Netherlands. Enjoy, and pick up this stone classic of a rock n' roll album when it comes out if you know what's good for ya. Maybe if you're really lucky these gunslingers will be rollin' into your town soon.
Greg Anderson's biker doom titans are finally releasing their long out of print 2000 CE album Flower Of Disease on Southern Lord, not to mention re-forming for a few dates sometime soon if we're lucky. You know what? I'm gonna say it. Goatsnake were fuckin' awesome. And if you happen to be unacquainted with these monsters, let me just say that you can't argue with a group of rock n' rollers whose credentials include stints in the Obsessed, Sunn O))), Thorr's Hammer, Scream, Asva and Burning Witch. A solid cross section of sludgecore, punk, stoner rock, black metal and doom you think? Nah, Goatsnake don't go in for your obscure genre categorizations. It's just heavy rock, and who can't get behind that? Surely we've all spent enough time rocking out in smoky rec rooms and basements to set aside our differences and enjoy some mammoth riffs, hedonistic manly rock god vocals, massive sing along hooks and a seriously heavy-duty mix courtesy of Nick Raskulinecz.
Here's footage from the first Goatsnake show in 5 years at this year's Roadburn festival at Tillburg in the Netherlands. Enjoy, and pick up this stone classic of a rock n' roll album when it comes out if you know what's good for ya. Maybe if you're really lucky these gunslingers will be rollin' into your town soon.
Friday, April 23, 2010
The Liars - Sisterworld
Band: The Liars
Album: Sisterworld
Label: Mute
Year: 2010
Rating: 84%
The Liars have been one of the past decade's most inscrutable practitioners of experimental rock. Like former tour-mates Radiohead, they've demonstrated a steadfast determination to follow their muse, including left-field stylistic departures and frequently relocating to other continents to write and record. Texture and rhythm have remained at the forefront of the band's sound throughout, with front man Angus Andrew's heavily processed vocals (bearing more than a passing resemblance to those of Thom Yorke) lending the band an unearthly quality. Most importantly, Liars remain stubbornly committed to exploring new sonic turf and topping themselves with each byzantine, heavily-laboured record. Such creative restlessness makes for a body of work which is unpredictable, frequently baffling and consistently rewarding for adventurous listeners.
'Scissors' kicks off the band's fifth album with narcotic chants and the mournful strains of a cello before exploding into a spastic distorto-rock tantrum. The bait-and-switch is nothing new to this band, but this first full band kick is still fantastically exciting. The song alternates placid with punishing without overstaying its welcome, then quickly slides into the pulsing bass and rickety percussion of 'No Barrier Fun.' "I wanna make it up" moans Andrew over music box and violin backing that wouldn't sound out of place on one of A Silver Mt. Zion's records. The atmosphere is unsettling, with the band crafting moody sounds capes over heavily looped and treated instruments and vocals, drawing out the tension over several tracks. Unlike the fantastical sense of child-like wonder that permeates previous records like 2006's awe-inspiring Drum's Not Dead, Sisterworld is sonically ominous and almost uniformly bleak in tone. The band hasn't sounded so dark since 2004's universally misunderstood sophomore effort They Were Wrong So We Drowned, but this time the attack is more focused and married to some excellent songs. The motorik groove of 'Proud Evolution' shows off an astute understanding of krautrock rhythm and the power of sonic minimalism, while penultimate slow-burner 'Goodnight Everything' uses deep brass horns to amplify the grandeur of its droning chords and triumphantly announce the album's climactic final explosion before settling into the dreamy epilogue, "Too Much, Too Much."
Sisterworld is more about dynamic tension than release, but also offers some of the Liars' most pile-driving rockers yet. Few moments in the Liars' schizophrenic catalog can match the vicious animosity of 'Scarecrows On A Killer Slant.' Over a heavily distorted grinding synth, Andrew screams, "Why'd you shoot the mayor with a gun? 'CAUSE HE BOTHERED YOU!!!" before going on to yell some more about standing in the street and killing everyone. Equally enjoyable, 'The Overachievers' sports a mechanized slaughterhouse tumble of a riff that is helped by Andrew's off-kilter yelps and bilesome diatribes.
The Liars have proven themselves once again to be one of the most consistently inventive and original bands in rock. Examined with the benefit of hindsight, the Liars' career arc no longer looks so jarring when viewed through Sisterworld's damaged lens. Much like the band's 2007 eponymous record, Sisterworld forgoes some of the band's earlier experimental dalliances and rewards listeners with some of the most accessible songwriting of the Liars' career. Don't get me wrong, this is a Liars album, and that means you will hear plenty of noises you may be uncomfortable with the first time through. It might not fit your definition of rock or even music at all. That's normal, and no one ever said these guys were all that easy to listen to. But now that the band has learned how to wrap their sound-manipulation experiments around songs that are at least recognizable as such, more new fans should be on board than ever before. The band's charming conviction and dogged determination to sculpt noise and formless texture into integral components of a unified work of art are admirable traits that win bands fans of the rabid variety. With that in mind, the album works as both a consolidation and a continuation of the band's strengths to date, and will appeal to fans new and old.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Elevator - Light Is To Life As Dark Is To Death
This is a fake compilation intended as a primer to this criminally overlooked Canadian psychedelic group, Elevator. The song 'Wink' which kicks off this compilation, can be heard as the second of the three songs performed in the video. The video itself is actually part 2 of a 1998 3-part short film to which Elevator provided the soundtrack. About 4 minutes in, you will witness this band at the peak of their powers. The tracklist below is that of an imaginary compilation/retrospective record that I intend to curate, should I ever be asked to do so.
Side A
1. Wink (3:07)
2. The Change (2:28)
3. Thick Wall (9:54)
4. You're In A Deep Dark Hole (4:11)
Side B
5. Wait For Tomorrow (3:47)
6. Backteeth (4:06)
7. Rain (3:50)
8. I Wonder What Is Sane (2:12)
9. The Grip On Me (4:30)
10. Hurricane (1:49)
Side C
11. Every Channel (2:15)
12. Black (3:23)
13. Darkness --> Light (15:55)
Side D
14. August (4:31)
15. No Good Trying (2:51)
16. The Only See To Thought (2:19)
17. Deep Underground (2:21)
18. Where Does It End? (7:28)
Known to go under the names of Elevator Through and Elevator to Hell at various points, this band is the main spiritual organ of Halifax's Rick White. White was a member of Moncton, New Brunswick's indie noiseniks Eric's Trip in the mid-90's. Since then he's released an assortment of albums under various versions of the name Elevator, exploring his unique take on lo-fi psychedelic music. With some distribution with Sub Pop, ELevator was a near miss who never broke through in a major way due to being out of time. Truth is, they pre-dated the new weird America scene by about seven years, and whatever clout Sub Pop had was nullified by the fact that no one in independent rock music in 1999 was playing fuzzy lo-fi garage psych the way these guys were.
There is great range in White's songwriting. He conjures up droning walls of noise, clears rooms with fractious feedback onslaughts, intones sonic premonitions from beyond the galaxy, scales the heavens with acid-spiked guitar jams, and soothes the soul with enchanting astral minstrel's tales. Sadly, the band is no longer with us, apparently having called it quits some time after the last release I am aware of by these guys, 2004's August. (Rick White did release a similar album called Memoreaper under his own name in 2007 and has been playing with a re-formed Eric's Trip in the last few years) But because the Elevator discograpgy is so user-unfriendly, I've decided to assemble this imaginary compilation culled from the 4 Elevator full-lengths and 1 soundtrack EP I've found to act as a sampler for the uninitiated.
"Wink" kicks off the proceedings with a growling, overdriven bass line straight out of the 90's hard rock playbook and White's soon-to-be familiar self-hating lyrics, before exploding into a massive psychedelic guitar wrestling session that includes mammoth Bonhamn drum fills and unhealthy amounts of fuzz. The whole thing clocks in at just a hair over 3 minutes, making it a worthy counterpart to the Stooges "I Wanna Be Your Dog," Alice Cooper's "I'm Eighteen," Sab's "Paranoid," Led Zep's "Communication Breakdown," Mountain's "Mississippi Queen" and the MC5's "Kick Out The Jams," or just about any other heavy psych/proto-metal classic one-off you wish to name. The next track "The Change" is a curveball, a psychedelic rave-up with jangly guitar and White's sleepy vocals providing an apt comparison to the Brian Jonestown Massacre. These two tracks give an interesting account of the dichotomy inherent in Elevator's sound. When moved, White can make his band sound like anything he wants.
The 10-minute "Thick Wall" begins as droning, druggy wall of pounding toms and chords repeated ad nauseum before all drops out, revealing simply a pulsating bassline and strummed accoustic guitar. Feedback and what could possibly be a 12-string guitar rise and fall in volume and intensity as White gradually beings to intone his astral notions over a krautrock groove. Eventually all that remains is droning fuzz and some distant moans from White, who then simply brings the song to a conclusion with a gorgeous clean guitar passage which provides the song's only melody. Quickly subsumed by a pounding snare and bouncing bassline, "You're A Deep Dark Hole" is a song which displays all that Elevator do well, including White's soul-searching lyrics and ear for melody, combined with suitably wandering guitar leads bathed in atmospheric reverb over eternally droning Komische grooves.
"Wait For Tomorrow," another one of my favourites from the "Such" soundtrack, opens Side B with possibly the band's most memorable chorus and some deliciously sludgy bass and thunderous toms. "Backteeth" is a slow-moving crusher complete with lumbering riffs and fuzzed-out stoner rock leads. The delicate acoustic passage which opens "Rain" is quickly obliterated by a ragged garage rock stomp that eventually degenerates into a floating sea of cosmic nebulae reminiscent of A Saucerful Of Secrets-era Pink Floyd. " I Wonder What Is Sane" is a fast driving rave-up featuring vortex shifting studio panning and unhealthy amounts of distortion. If you've made it this far without being bothered at all by the muddy recording quality, kudos to you. Very few do. "The Grip On Me" brings the volume down a bit, but not the intensity. A muted Hammond organ and White's skyscraping electro-fuzz guitar provide the song's highlights as it oozes dread and darkness before exploding into a stately march across the finish line. Side B ends with Hurricane, a gorgeous and almost sadly brief acid-folk ditty from the Eeireconciliation album. This beautiful tune blossoms and then whithers into atonal noise in under 2 minutes, its brevity a knowing nod to the transience of life.
"Every Channel," a classic Elevator rocker, opens side C with wild biker rock solos and riffs, and burns full throttle for just a shade over two minutes before fading into the bleak darkness which announces the arrival of "Black." The suffocating dead air hiss of the track soon explodes into a vicious psych thrash freakout similar to a paint-huffing Acid Mothers Temple. White's ethereal vocals pan all across the speakers and then abruptly cut out to reveal the monster title track to 2002's Darkness-->Light album. Probably Elevator's most momentous (and certainly their most monolithic) achievement, this 16 minute behemoth comes on first like Confusion Is Sex-era Sonic Youth's aggro-noise punk before eventually sinking everything into its unspeakably driving bassline. Frantic drumming keeps the pace up while White's galactic intonations about life, love and death are run through all manner of sonic manipulators and effects pedals. By the 4 minute mark, all pretense of a structure has left the song, as only a muddy blend of white noise and crossing sine waves remains. Eventually the rhythm section returns to the fore, delivering an "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida"-esque tour de force that eventually dovetails into feedback strains and snatches of musique concrete mixology. Voices, chimes, strings, found sounds and various other instruments and noises are treated and manipulated, running riot across the soundscape. Eventually, after an urgent bass and drums pummeling, the track finally returns to earth with a return to the speed freak garage burner that opened the album. One final burst of atonal noise concludes the tracks before being sucked back up into the heavens. The listener's third eye has been squeegeed of all perception save that of the cosmic persuasion.
Finally, side D opens with the title track from 2004's August probably the band's most accessible record, due to it's (relatively) well produced and clean sound. The track is a raging slab of hallucinogenic acid-spiked garage rock which later gives way to backmasked vocals and tape loops. Followig it are a trio of songs from 1999's Vague Premonitions. "No Good Trying" is a grungy midtempo rocker that sports some nifty sound effects in addition to its ferocious Bonham-esque drum barrage. "The Only See To Thought" is another fuzzy banburner which storms through a jumble of drum fills and fuzzed out power chords (notice a theme here?) before crashing and burning. "Deep Undergroud" emerges from a fog of formless noise to groove on a solid bass vamp and display more of White's sonic shamanisms and guitar worship. Even if you can understand what he is trying to say, just ignore the lyrics, as they are mostly spacey and metaphysical imagery or strident exultations to drugged states of expanded consciousness. More important here is the sound, which in this case invokes waves churning, thunder crashing and supernovas erupting. "Where Is The End?", the aptly-named finale, does not so much end the record as bring it full circle, remaking the Ouroboros whole and stretching onward into sonic infinity as an infinite loop of propulsive drumming, flesh-searing lava-bass and chiming feedback. Rather than bothering to write an ending to the song and finishing up, White simply lets the tape run out on the track. For all I know, these guys could still be in there jamming on this thing.
So there you have it. This thing will probably never be a reality, and if you are going to the trouble of listening to all these songs in the order I prescribe, you should probably just listen to the full albums, starting with any one of the ones I took this material from. Incidentally, I got started with Elevator when a friend played me Darkness-->Light a couple years back, but really any one will give you a good indication of what they are about. Enjoy this wonderful set of Canadian music, and happy travels!
Note:
Tracks 1 & 5 are taken from the 1998 EP, Soundtrack To The Film, "The Such."
Tracks 2, 3, 7, 14 & 18 are taken from the 2004 LP, August.
Tracks 4, 12 & 13 are taken from the 2002 LP, Darkness --> Light.
Tracks 6, 10 & 11 are taken from the 1997 LP, Eeireconciliation.
Tracks 7, 9, 15, 16 & 17 are taken from the 1999 LP, Vague Premonitions.
At last count their discography includes nearly two dozen releases, including 7" singles, EP's, Mini-LP's, cassettes and live bootlegs, as well as a self-titled LP which I have been unable to locate. Factor in at least a dozen or so soundtrack and compilation appearances, and you can rest assured that what you see here is just a small sliver of what the band has produced.
Side A
1. Wink (3:07)
2. The Change (2:28)
3. Thick Wall (9:54)
4. You're In A Deep Dark Hole (4:11)
Side B
5. Wait For Tomorrow (3:47)
6. Backteeth (4:06)
7. Rain (3:50)
8. I Wonder What Is Sane (2:12)
9. The Grip On Me (4:30)
10. Hurricane (1:49)
Side C
11. Every Channel (2:15)
12. Black (3:23)
13. Darkness --> Light (15:55)
Side D
14. August (4:31)
15. No Good Trying (2:51)
16. The Only See To Thought (2:19)
17. Deep Underground (2:21)
18. Where Does It End? (7:28)
Known to go under the names of Elevator Through and Elevator to Hell at various points, this band is the main spiritual organ of Halifax's Rick White. White was a member of Moncton, New Brunswick's indie noiseniks Eric's Trip in the mid-90's. Since then he's released an assortment of albums under various versions of the name Elevator, exploring his unique take on lo-fi psychedelic music. With some distribution with Sub Pop, ELevator was a near miss who never broke through in a major way due to being out of time. Truth is, they pre-dated the new weird America scene by about seven years, and whatever clout Sub Pop had was nullified by the fact that no one in independent rock music in 1999 was playing fuzzy lo-fi garage psych the way these guys were.
There is great range in White's songwriting. He conjures up droning walls of noise, clears rooms with fractious feedback onslaughts, intones sonic premonitions from beyond the galaxy, scales the heavens with acid-spiked guitar jams, and soothes the soul with enchanting astral minstrel's tales. Sadly, the band is no longer with us, apparently having called it quits some time after the last release I am aware of by these guys, 2004's August. (Rick White did release a similar album called Memoreaper under his own name in 2007 and has been playing with a re-formed Eric's Trip in the last few years) But because the Elevator discograpgy is so user-unfriendly, I've decided to assemble this imaginary compilation culled from the 4 Elevator full-lengths and 1 soundtrack EP I've found to act as a sampler for the uninitiated.
"Wink" kicks off the proceedings with a growling, overdriven bass line straight out of the 90's hard rock playbook and White's soon-to-be familiar self-hating lyrics, before exploding into a massive psychedelic guitar wrestling session that includes mammoth Bonhamn drum fills and unhealthy amounts of fuzz. The whole thing clocks in at just a hair over 3 minutes, making it a worthy counterpart to the Stooges "I Wanna Be Your Dog," Alice Cooper's "I'm Eighteen," Sab's "Paranoid," Led Zep's "Communication Breakdown," Mountain's "Mississippi Queen" and the MC5's "Kick Out The Jams," or just about any other heavy psych/proto-metal classic one-off you wish to name. The next track "The Change" is a curveball, a psychedelic rave-up with jangly guitar and White's sleepy vocals providing an apt comparison to the Brian Jonestown Massacre. These two tracks give an interesting account of the dichotomy inherent in Elevator's sound. When moved, White can make his band sound like anything he wants.
The 10-minute "Thick Wall" begins as droning, druggy wall of pounding toms and chords repeated ad nauseum before all drops out, revealing simply a pulsating bassline and strummed accoustic guitar. Feedback and what could possibly be a 12-string guitar rise and fall in volume and intensity as White gradually beings to intone his astral notions over a krautrock groove. Eventually all that remains is droning fuzz and some distant moans from White, who then simply brings the song to a conclusion with a gorgeous clean guitar passage which provides the song's only melody. Quickly subsumed by a pounding snare and bouncing bassline, "You're A Deep Dark Hole" is a song which displays all that Elevator do well, including White's soul-searching lyrics and ear for melody, combined with suitably wandering guitar leads bathed in atmospheric reverb over eternally droning Komische grooves.
"Wait For Tomorrow," another one of my favourites from the "Such" soundtrack, opens Side B with possibly the band's most memorable chorus and some deliciously sludgy bass and thunderous toms. "Backteeth" is a slow-moving crusher complete with lumbering riffs and fuzzed-out stoner rock leads. The delicate acoustic passage which opens "Rain" is quickly obliterated by a ragged garage rock stomp that eventually degenerates into a floating sea of cosmic nebulae reminiscent of A Saucerful Of Secrets-era Pink Floyd. " I Wonder What Is Sane" is a fast driving rave-up featuring vortex shifting studio panning and unhealthy amounts of distortion. If you've made it this far without being bothered at all by the muddy recording quality, kudos to you. Very few do. "The Grip On Me" brings the volume down a bit, but not the intensity. A muted Hammond organ and White's skyscraping electro-fuzz guitar provide the song's highlights as it oozes dread and darkness before exploding into a stately march across the finish line. Side B ends with Hurricane, a gorgeous and almost sadly brief acid-folk ditty from the Eeireconciliation album. This beautiful tune blossoms and then whithers into atonal noise in under 2 minutes, its brevity a knowing nod to the transience of life.
"Every Channel," a classic Elevator rocker, opens side C with wild biker rock solos and riffs, and burns full throttle for just a shade over two minutes before fading into the bleak darkness which announces the arrival of "Black." The suffocating dead air hiss of the track soon explodes into a vicious psych thrash freakout similar to a paint-huffing Acid Mothers Temple. White's ethereal vocals pan all across the speakers and then abruptly cut out to reveal the monster title track to 2002's Darkness-->Light album. Probably Elevator's most momentous (and certainly their most monolithic) achievement, this 16 minute behemoth comes on first like Confusion Is Sex-era Sonic Youth's aggro-noise punk before eventually sinking everything into its unspeakably driving bassline. Frantic drumming keeps the pace up while White's galactic intonations about life, love and death are run through all manner of sonic manipulators and effects pedals. By the 4 minute mark, all pretense of a structure has left the song, as only a muddy blend of white noise and crossing sine waves remains. Eventually the rhythm section returns to the fore, delivering an "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida"-esque tour de force that eventually dovetails into feedback strains and snatches of musique concrete mixology. Voices, chimes, strings, found sounds and various other instruments and noises are treated and manipulated, running riot across the soundscape. Eventually, after an urgent bass and drums pummeling, the track finally returns to earth with a return to the speed freak garage burner that opened the album. One final burst of atonal noise concludes the tracks before being sucked back up into the heavens. The listener's third eye has been squeegeed of all perception save that of the cosmic persuasion.
Finally, side D opens with the title track from 2004's August probably the band's most accessible record, due to it's (relatively) well produced and clean sound. The track is a raging slab of hallucinogenic acid-spiked garage rock which later gives way to backmasked vocals and tape loops. Followig it are a trio of songs from 1999's Vague Premonitions. "No Good Trying" is a grungy midtempo rocker that sports some nifty sound effects in addition to its ferocious Bonham-esque drum barrage. "The Only See To Thought" is another fuzzy banburner which storms through a jumble of drum fills and fuzzed out power chords (notice a theme here?) before crashing and burning. "Deep Undergroud" emerges from a fog of formless noise to groove on a solid bass vamp and display more of White's sonic shamanisms and guitar worship. Even if you can understand what he is trying to say, just ignore the lyrics, as they are mostly spacey and metaphysical imagery or strident exultations to drugged states of expanded consciousness. More important here is the sound, which in this case invokes waves churning, thunder crashing and supernovas erupting. "Where Is The End?", the aptly-named finale, does not so much end the record as bring it full circle, remaking the Ouroboros whole and stretching onward into sonic infinity as an infinite loop of propulsive drumming, flesh-searing lava-bass and chiming feedback. Rather than bothering to write an ending to the song and finishing up, White simply lets the tape run out on the track. For all I know, these guys could still be in there jamming on this thing.
So there you have it. This thing will probably never be a reality, and if you are going to the trouble of listening to all these songs in the order I prescribe, you should probably just listen to the full albums, starting with any one of the ones I took this material from. Incidentally, I got started with Elevator when a friend played me Darkness-->Light a couple years back, but really any one will give you a good indication of what they are about. Enjoy this wonderful set of Canadian music, and happy travels!
Note:
Tracks 1 & 5 are taken from the 1998 EP, Soundtrack To The Film, "The Such."
Tracks 2, 3, 7, 14 & 18 are taken from the 2004 LP, August.
Tracks 4, 12 & 13 are taken from the 2002 LP, Darkness --> Light.
Tracks 6, 10 & 11 are taken from the 1997 LP, Eeireconciliation.
Tracks 7, 9, 15, 16 & 17 are taken from the 1999 LP, Vague Premonitions.
At last count their discography includes nearly two dozen releases, including 7" singles, EP's, Mini-LP's, cassettes and live bootlegs, as well as a self-titled LP which I have been unable to locate. Factor in at least a dozen or so soundtrack and compilation appearances, and you can rest assured that what you see here is just a small sliver of what the band has produced.
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