Date: Sat, 26 Aug 1995 11:47:22 -0400 From: Initialboy@AOL.COM Subject: Bowery Electric Bowery Electric are a three piece based in NYC who have just released their self-titled debut on Chicago's Kranky Records (the next bastion of hip), and in places this album has some of the best guitar-wash atmospherics since the first Slowdive EP (which is saying a lot, I realize). They're not a typical shoegazer band, per se, in that they're more into droning, sprawling jams, something along the lines of... oh, I dunno, Flying Saucer Attack in their more verbose moments (I'm tempted to insert a Pink Floyd reference, a la the first half of 'Ummagumma', but I don't think that'd be much appreciated - would a Neu reference be more acceptable, as it does seem to be relevant as well?). For the most part, they don't write pop songs. Rather, they're more into building walls of sound, and as hackneyed as that notion may be, they do it quite convincingly and rather well. Nonetheless there is just enough of a melody that threads along in each song to keep most of you popkids interested, and some of the more "ambient" spots on this album are almost Eno-esque to a fault (a good thing, mind you). If Jessamine were Kranky's equivalent of Stereolab, then Bowery Electric are analogous to a select part of the late '91 Creation roster rolling joints with the early, savage Spacemen 3. There's a slightly forbidding feel to this whole album, and I can testify that this disc does make for a very compelling night driving soundtrack. I think I'm in love. Cheers, hk Date: Wed, 7 Feb 1996 12:20:48 -0800 From: Jens Alfke (jens@MOOSEYARD.COM) Subject: Bowery Electric, YES YES YES In which Jens reviews ---> BOWERY ELECTRIC s/t album (Kranky) WHEREAS I speak as someone who was immediately amazed and permanently rearranged by Slowdive's first single ("Slowdive/Avalyn/Avalyn2"), and WHEREAS I have been known to leave said CD-single on auto-repeat for hours, and WHEREAS I was mildly disappointed by everything else Slowdive ever did except for the sublime but oh-so-different "Pygmalion", THEREFORE BE IT KNOWN that Bowery Electric's album is everything I ever wanted Slowdive to be based on that first single. (And it's almost 3 times as long!) Song structure? Progression? Bowery Electric prove without doubt* that you don't need them if you just pile on enough hyperspatially-flanged guitar whooshing and fuzzed out basslines. And I mean that most making my internal organs pop with delight and bliss. This is the best thing I've ever heard on Kranky and that includes both Labradford albums as well as Jessamine. I want to thank the 4AD-L people who reviewed this and inculcated the name into my subconscious. Now I backpedal a few steps and say that this is no mere Slowdive knockoff, the actual guitar sounds are quite different (mostly this flanged haze that displays very little variation from moment to moment but whose sound is complex enough to stay interesting), there is no use of harmony in the vocals, and the overall effect is much more ambient than all but Slowdive's first and last releases. But Slowdive are an obvious influence of theirs and Bowery Electric's trance-inducing opiate effect picks up perfectly from where they left off. I've gotten mildly tired of dreampop/shoegazer music and its by-now cliches, and have tossed plenty of lame wannabes out of my discman, but Bowery Electric are a joy. * some irony should be read into this phrase in light of previous review-flames. Date: Sun, 3 Mar 1996 02:41:18 -0600 From: Darryl Stephen Roy (dsroy@OWLNET.RICE.EDU) Subject: Reviews: Bowery, Cocteau, Coil, Mellonta Tauta Bowery Electric - Bowery Electric Kranky Records 1995 Sounds in Motion/Next to Nothing/Long Way Down/Another Road/Over and Over/Deep Sky Objects/Slow Thrills/Out of Phase/Drift Away Lawrence Chandler blanches his guitar into a nebulous drone which peers over the shoulder, flanging and panning, rarely progressing harmonically, with occasional overdubs higher up the neck for emphasis. Beneath this skein, bassist Martha Schwendener carries the songs with minor key fundamentals and ostinatos, and a fatigued, wan voice mixed as another texture. The result is a hybrid of early Slowdive and Joy Division, dispensing with the pretty melodies of the former and adding the sense of compulsion Peter Hook gave the gloommeisters. Nine variations on the sam= e song, but it's one I've been waiting too long to hear. The finest post-MBV album since "bloweyelashwish".=20 (Thanks to Jens for suggesting this.) Date: Sun, 8 Dec 96 17:14:52 -0800 From: "Brendan A. McCarthy" Reply-To: ctip@dharma.firstcomm.com To: Multiple recipients of Subject: Bowery Beat/ Labradford this was also posted on the 4AD list. sorry if you're on both lists. here are some attempts at descibing some of the excellent kranky music i've recently acquired... \\--------// bowery electric - beat (kranky records, krank014, CD/DLP) 63:39 simple, catchy basslines anchor the minimalistic guitar drones and accents. a wonderfully moody & sedate album. it lulls. while it's obvious that they revere Slowdive, (less so here than on their debut,) BE are clearly defining their own character. this album seems richer and more varied than their first. the album's title track, "beat," opens with a simple hypnotic combination of bass, a single keyboard chord, drum machine and wonderul scratchy surface-noise. with margaret's vocals "words are just words/words are only noise." it approximates portishead stripped to the bones. "empty words" "black light" and "coming down" are all solidly good slowdive-esque tracks. the first would have been at home on BE's debut. the latter two feature lawrence's vocals on top of margaret's (very neil+rachael-like.) on both "without stopping" and "fear of flying" the percussion reminds me of evanescence-era scorn. beyond that the tone is brooding or hopeful and dreamy with some nice subdued whirring noises (likes banks of washing machines in a laundromat.) "under the sun" is stark and spooky with reverbed bass and a subdued noisy background like (i hear the eraserhead soundtrack.) "inside out" is a strange courtship - a single guitar chord answering an inviting bassline while lazy drums with constant cymbalic shimmer maintain the pace. there's a warm relaxing feel here. "postscript" is a minimal single-chord subtly phasing for 16 minutes. relaxing, but not powerful enough to be hypnotic. //--------\\ Date: Mon, 17 Feb 97 11:23:10 -0800 From: Jens Alfke Reply-To: ctip@dharma.firstcomm.com To: Multiple recipients of Subject: Re: kranky for beginners/FSA "Goodbye" Martin Andrew Hoyt wrote: >All this recent talk about bands on Kranky lately has sparked my curiousity. >I have the first two Labradford albums and was wondering what (aside from the >latest Labradford album) people on the list would recommend I buy next. Both Bowery Electric albums are excellent. The first is definitely coming in from the "rock" end of the spectrum and should appeal to Slowdive and (to a lesser degree) Kitchens Of Distinction fans with its huge tangled cloud of hovering guitar noise over slow basslines and drumming, with some mixed-low female vocals. The second ("Beat") adds trip-hop beats on several tracks and moves in a more ambient direction on others, although several of the songs continue in the same style as the first album. Could someone post a complete Kranky discography? And will Kranky's imminent Net presence include a Web site? __________ _____________________ _______________________ Jens Alfke\ Wild-Eyed Java Zealot\ jens@apple.com -work\ jens@mooseyard.com -play\ Lost my shape -- trying to act casual Can't stop -- I might end up in the hospital _____________________________ http://www.mooseyard.com/Jens/ Date: Thu, 19 Feb 1998 14:45:39 -0500 From: Jeff Keibel Subject: Beggars Banquet Bowery Electric sign to Beggars Banquet: 1997 saw the release of "Beat", Bowery Electric's second album, licensed from Kranky in Chicago. The album, along with the band's live performances at the Garage, the Hope & Anchor, and Phoenix Festival, received great reviews, and created a lot of interest. Bowery Electric is Lawrence Chandler and Martha Schwendener, although for live performances they are joined by drummer Wayne Magruder. The band have now signed directly to Beggars Banquet, for the world, and are currently upgrading their studio prior to starting work on the next album. With their ambient guitars and trip-hop beats, anticipate great things for 1998...