Skywave
To complete the triumvirate of my most exciting music finds this month, here's a bit about Skywave.
Formed in Fredericksburg, VA, the band was active 1995-2003. When they split up, Oliver Ackermann formed A Place To Bury Strangers and Paul Baker and John Fedowitz went on to become Ceremony.
Skywave must be paying pretty high interest on their debt to The Jesus & Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine. But they're so shamelessly derivative that I've got no problem. Especially since Skywave take the sound of their influences to a more explosive, hyper-distorted direction and offer up formidably written material that contains snazzy melodies under all the noise. As the band put it: "Huge soundscapes, crystallizing guitars, driving beats and heartbroken voices." Or, as I put it, a cascade of pulverizing but tuneful fuzz honey.
Or so I say on the basis of their 2003 album Synthstatic. Apart from a cassette-only (!) comp of b-sides and rarities called Interference, all other Skywave material (a couple of albums and numerous EPs) is long out of print and is turning out to be incredibly hard to find (a partial discography here). If you have any of their other material, I would absolutely love to hear from you.
My reaction to Skywave is by no means universally shared. Apparently they used to do sound check at half volume and surprise the sound guy by cranking their gear to the max only when climbing on stage. Ackermann reports (on the Death By Audio web site that sells guitar pedals that he builds) some choice quotes from venue owners, like "I am going to kill you" and "I've only had to wear earplugs twice in my entire life and both times were tonight." :D
Here's a detached but upbeat track from Synthstatic (which I've put up here) called "Don't Say Slow" (a more melodic tune "Over And Over" in comments) plus a video for a very J&MC-like EP track called "Got That Feeling":
This is a Filling in the gaps post.
Formed in Fredericksburg, VA, the band was active 1995-2003. When they split up, Oliver Ackermann formed A Place To Bury Strangers and Paul Baker and John Fedowitz went on to become Ceremony.
Skywave must be paying pretty high interest on their debt to The Jesus & Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine. But they're so shamelessly derivative that I've got no problem. Especially since Skywave take the sound of their influences to a more explosive, hyper-distorted direction and offer up formidably written material that contains snazzy melodies under all the noise. As the band put it: "Huge soundscapes, crystallizing guitars, driving beats and heartbroken voices." Or, as I put it, a cascade of pulverizing but tuneful fuzz honey.
Or so I say on the basis of their 2003 album Synthstatic. Apart from a cassette-only (!) comp of b-sides and rarities called Interference, all other Skywave material (a couple of albums and numerous EPs) is long out of print and is turning out to be incredibly hard to find (a partial discography here). If you have any of their other material, I would absolutely love to hear from you.
My reaction to Skywave is by no means universally shared. Apparently they used to do sound check at half volume and surprise the sound guy by cranking their gear to the max only when climbing on stage. Ackermann reports (on the Death By Audio web site that sells guitar pedals that he builds) some choice quotes from venue owners, like "I am going to kill you" and "I've only had to wear earplugs twice in my entire life and both times were tonight." :D
Here's a detached but upbeat track from Synthstatic (which I've put up here) called "Don't Say Slow" (a more melodic tune "Over And Over" in comments) plus a video for a very J&MC-like EP track called "Got That Feeling":
This is a Filling in the gaps post.
Locating MOG account...
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