28 March 2010
While not possessing the same urgency and intensity as their 2008 debut EP, Crystal Antlers’ first album Tentacles (2009) has enticed critics and fans the world over. As 2010 rolls around, the San Diego crew have little to complain about as they start another European tour with this Lausanne outing.
Since they gave up their day-jobs as chimney sweeps, Johnny Bell and the curious group of musicians behind him have become one of those bands who incorporate so many influences and nod to so many genres that they often come across as being wholly original in themselves. Bell has cited Captain Beefheart as a formative influence, which – while there being no stylistic similarities between the two – proves this band’s ambitions towards experimentalism. For starters, Crystal Antlers are much louder, and do have very recognisable structures to their exercises in space-rock crossed with punk. Their closest ancestors are therefore, undoubtedly, the MC5.
Live, however, is where they emerge as a true force. ‘Parting Song For The Torn Sky’, a quite extraordinary track, remains their live signature tune, a forceful psychedelic masterpiece driven by the frantic antics of percussionist Damien ‘Sexual Chocolate’ Edwards, whose shirtless leaping about, while very welcome, is almost unnecessary. So incendiary is this, their best song.
Where they go from here, however, is another matter. Crystal Antlers’ label, Touch and Go, dramatically downsized itself recently thus leaving our heroes minus an imprint to release on. That first EP was self-released so that is, supposedly, an option, yet such an extensive European tour as this must ensure someone will give them the money to do something new… and soon.
They say: “Very little is improv, if anything. Most of what we do is done intentionally, a lot of people can’t get their head around the way parts sound sometimes – they think it’s jamming or something, but it’s not; it’s meant to be that way. We wanted to make music that was strange, out-there and complex and even sloppy sometimes, but we never wanted it to be a jamming thing, or us wanking off on stage. There’s a song in everything.” – Johnny Bell
We say: Another term to enter the group of banned words in the music criticism lexicon is ‘mind-expanding’. That, nevertheless, is what Crystal Antlers are.
More on Landlockedblues this week:
Helgi Jónsson: Preview of the singer-musician bringing Icelandic intensity to the indie world.
LandLockedBlues is a preview-led guide to live music in Switzerland. Contrary to appearances, there is life in Switzerland, so much so that we decided to set up a site to show exactly what mysterious and enchanting pleasures pass through this strange land. No genre of music misses out: if it ‘hits the sweet spot’ we preview it, and possibly even review it.Head image credit: Salvatore Vuono
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Fresh from Landlockedblues, previews of the 'mind-expanding' Crystal Antlers and Icelandic singer-musician Helgi Jónsson.
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