-=- SHGZ -=-
* Shoegaze * Indie * Post-rock * Grunge * Dream Pop * Ambient * Ethereal *
Artist..: Bailterspace
Album...: Strobosphere
GENRE....: Indie
STYLE....: Shoegaze, Indie Rock, Noise
LABEL....: Fire SCENE.....: 2015-02-06
BITRATE..: 1000kbps avg STORE.....: 2012-00-00
ENCODER..: FLAC 1.2.1 -8 -V TRACKS....: 11
SIZE.....: 259.3MB SOURCE....: CD
URL..: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bailter_Space
- TRACKLIST
1 Things That We Found 3:41
2 Strobosphere 3:22
3 Blue Star 3:05
4 Polarize 3:38
5 No Sense 3:01
6 Meeting Place 4:02
7 Island 2:14
8 Op1 3:38
9 Live By The Ocean 3:22
10 Dset 2:11
11 World We Share 3:56
Total Playtime: 36:10
Fire Records are proud to herald the return of New Zealand/New York City
legends Bailterspace, who offer up their best album to date with their first
new recordings in 13 years. The band were once described by Pitchfork as
"simultaneously beautiful, jagged, atonal, and supremely melodic" and
'Strobosphere' emerges at a time when the band's trailblazing sound has never
been more relevant.
Revered as one of the loudest and most intense live bands of all-time, they
haven't lost any of their bite or their love of tone, dissonance, and melody.
The first single "No Sense" darts, snaps and swirls with alternating snare
cracks, atmospheric surges and dirty buzz, featuring Parker's distinctive
vocals.
Originally a member of The Gordons, Alister Parker formed Nelsh Bailter Space
with former Clean drummer Hamish Kilgour in year 1987. Shortening the name to
Bailterspace, they eventually incorporated his former band mates from The
Gordons, including Brent MacLachlan who has remained integral to the band
since 1989. They won praise as "the Sonic Youth of the Southern Hemisphere"
with several Melody Maker singles of the week. Relocating to New York brought
about greater harmonic exploration whilst their Flying Nun and Matador
releases established them as a distortion-led tour de force.
After announcing a hiatus, the band never truly stopped working together,
occasionally sneaking out to play an unusual show and building a stockpile of
ideas, they way they always done. However, finding the urge to record too
great, they dove back into the studio and produced a record of power and
beauty that could only come from Bailterspace.
*
Apparently it's still the 1990s inside the minds of Alister Parker and Brent
McLachlan, and that's not at all a bad thing. Guitarist Parker and
percussionist McLachlan have taken Bailterspace back to the recording studio
for the first time since the turn of the century with their 2012 album
Strobosphere, and sonically it pretty much picks up where the group left off
in 1999 -- Parker still fashions a massive wall of guitar noise that's rough
and tuneful at the same time, McLachlan still urges the songs along with his
simple but implacable drumming, and the sound and approach of this material
recalls those heady days when Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr., and My Bloody
Valentine were joyously proving that the electric guitar wasn't dead after
all. If that suggests this is an exercise in indie rock nostalgia, a quick
listen to Strobosphere confirms that's not the case; Bailterspace are still
working within the same musical framework that they established in the late
'80s, but the music sounds and feels as powerful and engaging as ever, and
Parker's many layers of thick, scratchy guitar sounds fit together with the
firm snap of a jigsaw puzzle and a melodic strength that's elegant but
powerfully strong. The songs on Strobosphere sometimes seem like frameworks
more than fully formed melodic entities, but it's Parker's guitars that put
muscle on the bones, and from the sounds of this he's been hitting the gym
regularly in recent years. The performances sound fresh and alive, with
enough scrap and spontaneity to suggest the dynamics of a live performance
(as do the sudden fade-outs on several tracks), though everything here is
purposeful and well focused. Strobosphere isn't a comeback for Bailterspace,
it's a continuation, and confirms one of the great guitar bands of its day
hasn't given up on the mission of discovering how much wonder can be summoned
from a few fuzzy chords.
*
Bailterspace are one of New ZealandÆs most influential indie rock bands.
Sonically intense, yet still possessing a keen sense of melody, Bailterspace
play loud, noise-inflected rock; huge sheets of distorted guitar intertwined
with pulsing rhythms. The band formed in Christchurch in 1987 by former
Gordons guitarist, Alister Parker û someone who is no stranger to excessive
feedback levels, as classic Gordons cuts such as ôFuture Shockö illustrate û
and The Clean drummer Hamish Kilgour. After some line-up changes, the new
Bailterspace configuration came to include John Halvorsen (bass) and Brent
McLachlan (drums) û both originally in the Gordons with Parker. Bailterspace
adopted a more refined approach than the GordonsÆ discordant noise tactics,
with a strong focus upon texture and atmosphere. ParkerÆs massive, droning
guitars provided much of this texture, with HalvorsenÆs bass ebbing and
flowing through the feedback, and McLachlanÆs persistent drums punctuating
the dissonant sonic canvas.
After a slew of critically-acclaimed albums throughout the '90s, Bailterspace
disappeared off the radar after 1998's Solar.3. A retrospective compilation
appeared in 2004, frontman Alister Parker played a number of solo shows --
largely drawing upon the Bailterspace discography -- and a reconfigured
line-up took the stage at New York's Bowery Ballroom in 2008, minus long-time
bass player John Halvorsen. And now, some four years after that appearance,
here we have Strobosphere, the band's first new material in over 15 years.
The New York-shot promo photos show just Parker and McLachlan, indicating
that Halvorsen is now out of the equation. New material from bands who have
left such an inspiring legacy is always a dicey proposition. The ultimate
question is, how does Strobosphere stack up to such classics as Vortura and
Robot World? Pretty bloody well....
-=- SHGZ -=-
P.S.
** Thanks ***
*** BCC FNT IPC SSR ***
*** For Knowing Where The Music Is At ***
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* NuHS we miss you! *
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