It's The New Collection By The Space Needle & it's Truly Vicious! Great Songs & Deep Furry Sound...

Space Needle were a strange bunch. Part of the mid-nineties indie rock scene, but only barely, something about them was just a little too weird, a complicated mix of pretty and creepy, a sonic world not immediately recognizable to the average Pavement fan or Yo La Tengo booster. Their sound was based not on guitar jangle but on strange rhythms and thick swaths of synthesizer. Probably had a lot to do with the fact that SN mainman Jud Ehrbar was a drummer. Vocals were appropriately indie sad boy style, from monotone Pavementy croon to reedy straining-to-hit-the-high-notes near falsetto, but they were dropped into totally alien landscapes. Those distinct vocals moped and dragged their feet amidst strange militaristic drum jams, thick washes of layered organs, serpentine low end synthbasslines, slithering and twisting chaotically beneath thick wheezing organ whir, strangely detuned guitars, strummed into hypnotic jangly jams over ultra simple motorik drumming, all the while, the vocals pushed WAY up in the mix, sort of languorous and deadpan, not so much drifting as sort of lazily shuffling. The melody almost entirely carried by the vocals (with occasional assistance from the synthesizer). The sound was definitely skeletal, often just vocals and drums, sometimes a simple throbbing bass line, but most of the tracks build to a massive climax, with guitars building into huge fuzzy drones, the synth lines getting more and more distorted, both swirling into thick squalls of blown out psychedelia.

"Before I Lose My Style"

At their heaviest, Space Needle almost sound like Loop or Spacemen 3, simple riffs repeated over and over, building a super hypnotic groove, while over the top, guitars and synths wrestle in a thick cloud of buzz and fuzz. But the rest of the time, they really sounded like no one else. Some tracks are just random sonic experiments, super washed out guitars or ultra distorted synths, locked into super hot, crumbling in-the-red, looped dirges. But the heart of Space Needle's sound was a hauntingly alien, lilting loping abstract indie rock, melancholy and super laid back, but also dark and slightly ominous. Phrases repeated over and over mantra like, the vocals almost sounding choral at moments, each track unfurling and taking its own sweet time as it ambles toward its inevitable end. A sonic allegory for the sadness and loss suffusing SN's whole sound.

"Dreams"

This collection, gathers the best bits from Space Needle's two albums, and tacks on two live tracks, the best being a 15 minute long psych jam entitled "Where The Fucks My Wallet?", a live set staple that starts off all gentle guitar and builds into a wild sprawl of angular guitars and chaotic instrumental freakout, even a sort-of drum solo.

"Eyes To The World"

We sort of forgot how much we dug this band, but hearing these tracks again, man, they sound so fresh, and so fucking amazing, they've really held up well, unlike LOTS of their indie contemporaries. These tracks could just as easily be from some current experimental fucked up abstract noisepop cd-r band as a forgotten nineties indie rock outfit. Definitely enough jangle and sweet and sour melody to hit the spot for all you Blonde Redhead / Modest Mouse / Black Heart Procession / Yo La Tengo / Silver Jews indie rockers of today, but certainly fucked up enough to appeal to all you lovers of free noise and art rock weirdness as well, plus this is just the sort of record to give all those indierockphobes out there something to think about.
Includes liner notes, new artwork, and blurbs from the band about the recording of each track. Text By Aquarius

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