SPINDRIFT
LSD AND THE SEARCH FOR GOD
12 Galaxies
Jan. 16, 2008

I like the idea of a good transcendental mind-fuck. My experience with the drug-induced kind is limited, however, to a couple overnight “trips” to the Ocotillo desert when I was in high school. Nothing in my life was so transformative as those warm spring nights exploring cacti like some prescient moon cowboy. I’m pretty straightlaced now – thanks to grad school, rent, and other sobering realities – but sometimes I feel that vestigial self yearning for its origins. And it is often piqued by music. ...

SPINDRIFT
LSD AND THE SEARCH FOR GOD
12 Galaxies
Jan. 16, 2008

I like the idea of a good transcendental mind-fuck. My experience with the drug-induced kind is limited, however, to a couple overnight “trips” to the Ocotillo desert when I was in high school. Nothing in my life was so transformative as those warm spring nights exploring cacti like some prescient moon cowboy. I’m pretty straightlaced now – thanks to grad school, rent, and other sobering realities – but sometimes I feel that vestigial self yearning for its origins. And it is often piqued by music.
   
When I saw Spindrift was playing the 12 Galaxies, it nearly triggered a flashback to a moment I never experienced. I knew my life had been missing its psychedelic, spaghetti western soundtrack. I happened also to be curious about what the deity was up  to.. and holy shit!, LSD and Search for God was on the bill. Two birds, one stone - folks.
   
LSD and the Search for God plays straight shoegaze: Spacey, droning guitars, ethereal vocals about tantric sex pilgrimages, etc... There’s something too sincerely romantic about it for my taste; something that irks my postmodern cynicism; something that makes me embarrassed about my adolescent faith in a drug’s ability to transport me beyond the realm of suburban malaise and lame parents.
   
The band sounded good, but chased no chances. With all those three guitars, LSDatSfG managed the structural force of a breath, not the daring, massive wall of sound expected. The tunes were pretty and entrancing and they fulfilled my roommate's shoegaze fantasies – my  roommate who is only satisfied by the lush flavor of Stoli blueberry – but my own prejudice (against the conceptual tenets of the whole genre), and LSD’s affectations and overall mediocrity, impaired my appreciation. Instead of realizing the liminal sensory dimension all that delay and reverb are supposed to conjure, I spent LSD’s set feeling sober as a rock. Not quite on God’s level.   
   
During The Vandelles’ (Brooklyn, NY) set, I went next-door to Doc’s Clock for a few drinks. Drinks were cheaper there and the bathrooms cleaner.  I thought maybe I could stave off, with plain drunkenness, what I felt was an impending disillusionment with revelatory experience (this would ruin Spindrift for me). Maybe a head full of booze would make a nice home for Spindrift’s trippy sound. I had a Jameson and a Newcastle and felt a flame from my warm belly reach up and lick my mind. The bar became too bright, too clean.
   
Back at the 12 Galaxies a small crowd was buying drinks from an enormous bartender. Spindrift were nursing their own in the half-lit corners. Or so I thought. Who were these dark, bearded figures in shit-kicker boots? I needed another drink and got it. My roommate disappeared with her cell phone to her ear. 
   
The next ten minutes were lost. Then Spindrift was on stage looking like the materialized specters of New Mexico, circa 1881. A black and white western film was projected over them and their monstrous shadows inhabited the scenes. Their music was half nightmare, half breathless dream: howling vocals, shimmering guitars, plodding, deeply grooved bass, trembling organ – all awash in reverb. The old theater began to feel as vast as a desert.

[Nathan Ladd]

 
[STREAM] Spindrift: Various Tracks
[STREAM] LSD and the Search for God: Various Tracks

BUILT FOR THE SEA
Built for the Sea
(Self-released; 2006)

Built for the Sea's self-released, eponymous debut album plays like a well-crafted novel in which good exposition, rising action, and an emotionally ambiguous resolution form a complete picture. If you're into relaxing on your screened-in porch in your rattan rocking chair on a drizzly, dreary day… Built for the Sea is your soundtrack.  ...

BUILT FOR THE SEA
Built for the Sea
(Self-released; 2006)

Built for the Sea's self-released, eponymous debut album plays like a well-crafted novel in which good exposition, rising action, and an emotionally ambiguous resolution form a complete picture. If you're into relaxing on your screened-in porch in your rattan rocking chair on a drizzly, dreary day… Built for the Sea is your soundtrack. 

The album sets a tone early on with lots of soft piano, soaring background harmony, and the lilting lead vocals of singer Lia Rose. The arrangements, as well as her voice, are reminiscent of Emma Pollack and The Delgados. Much like that band, Built for the Sea makes calming, delicate pop music that draws you in with deceptively simple lyrics. The record establishes a mood quickly with "We Now Know,"  the slow ballad opener. The songs build their arrangements patiently, with Lia singing her own harmony and the band alternating between sparse verses and richly textured choruses. 

The standout track is "Dive In," with a rhythm guitar tone borrowed equally from old Police records and Link Wray. Besides just sounding cool, the surf rock-style heavy reverb guitar tone makes even more sense as setting the scene for a song about the ocean. "Dive In" builds to an excellent climax with stacked vocals and culminates in two well-placed bars of 6/8 time (in an other wise 4/4 song) that hammer it home. Never ones to break the flow, Built for the Sea follow it with "Awake," a song that retains the 6/8 time signature and really keeps the album moving along. I wish more bands wrote pop songs in 6/8...it's a completely underused device that breaks up monotony and gives songs a real sense of urgency.

After that, the album lulls us into a sweet, simple resolution before its closing track, "Dreamer." In it, Lia sings, "go to sleep and dream for us all,"  and you can't help but get the feeling that she's been doing that already, with Built for the Sea backing her up.

[Rob Kassees]

[STREAM] Buit for the Sea: Various Tracks

TEMPO NO TEMPO
Repetition EP
Double Negative Records; 2007

On their second EP, Repetition, Tempo No Tempo deliver five neatly layered songs that feature well-balanced arrangements of keyboards, guitar, and bass all weaving and darting melodically over party jam disco drum beats. This second disc continues their trajectory of Television- and Wire-influenced intelligent punk rock songs that open up into crowd pleasing pop melodies. ...

LOW RED LAND
The Elbo Room
Feb. 6, 2008

I first heard Low Red Land on the Dragon Slayers Vol. 2 comp put out by Thread Productions. There isn’t a bad song on that disc, but Low Red Land’s stuck out in my mind because their song, “West Texas,” is named after my home state. And also because the guitars and vocals would stay in my head long after the disc stopped spinning. ...

LOW RED LAND
The Elbo Room
Feb. 6, 2008

I first heard Low Red Land on the Dragon Slayers Vol. 2 comp put out by Thread Productions. There isn’t a bad song on that disc, but Low Red Land’s stuck out in my mind because their song, “West Texas,” is named after my home state. And also because the guitars and vocals would stay in my head long after the disc stopped spinning.

Their live show was everything I’d expected: Loud, swelling guitars and desperately earnest, often shouted vocals. Indie punk and hardcore riffs atop driving rhythms. Sheer blasts of echoy guitar noise. It’s kinda like Fugazi meets post-rock, if you will.

But a surprise was in store at the end of the night, when the band closed their set with a quiet, all-acoustic number on banjo, guitar, and accordion. Singer/guitarist Neil Thompson didn’t sing into the mic, either, instead letting his vocal chords provide their own amplification, just as the other instruments were doing. It was a brilliant way to end the show, demonstrating a completely different side to the band’s talents.

Low Red Land has actually released one acoustic EP and plans to release another this year. They'll also be releasing their second electric album in 2008. You can catch Low Red Land play an all-acoustic show before they head out on tour through most of March.

Whether they’re electrified or not, the Low Red Land live experience will amply reward your attendance.

[Mike G.]

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There are more photos of Low Red Land live at the Elbo Room at the Wiretap Music Facebook group.

[STREAM] Low Red Land: Various Tracks

THE DRY SPELLS
The Dry Spells
Self-Released; 2007

The only bad thing about The Dry Spells'self-titled EP is that it's not a full-length album.

I first heard the eerie, female vocals-driven sounds of The Dry Spells on MySpace. After that, I couldn't wait to hear them live and get my hands on their EP. When I finally got the chance to see them in concert, I returned home at nearly 1am and immediately popped their disc into my computer. ...

THE DRY SPELLS
The Dry Spells
Self-Released; 2007

The only bad thing about The Dry Spells'self-titled EP is that it's not a full-length album.

I first heard the eerie, female vocals-driven sounds of The Dry Spells on MySpace. After that, I couldn't wait to hear them live and get my hands on their EP. When I finally got the chance to see them in concert, I returned home at nearly 1am and immediately popped their disc into my computer.

The Dry Spells'sound is eclectic and dreamy. Their influences are as diverse as Fleetwood Mac, Heart, and Russian folk songs. The mostly female Bard College graduates create the kind of music that is both interesting and inspiring. The self-titled, self-released EP is my new favorite painting soundtrack.

Listening to "Shruti," the first track on the EP, literally makes you feel as though you have been transported into a snow-covered forest of make-believe, while the lyrics are like a fable whispered into your ear. It's the kind of music that really gets under your skin; so full of sweet harmonies and intensely layered echoey vocals. The repetitive churning percussion and spooky humming of "Black is the Color" are hypnotizing. My favorite track on the EP is "Too Soon for Flowers," which opens with a folky violin solo and then transitions into a more indie-folk-punk sound. The arrangement of the violin and guitar perfectly contrast with the driving percussion and the warm melodic voices of singers Tahlia Harbour and April Hayley.

The Dry Spells paint truly ethereal dreamscapes with their enigmatic compositions, immersing the listener in a fairytale, an enchanted forest of hypnotic folk music. By the disc's end, you will be wandering down the path to a happily ever after of your own.

[Katie Kaapcke]

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[STREAM] The Dry Spells: Various Tracks