Crystal Antlers - Tentacles

Our review
Customer reviews

5...according to our Brian on Tue 14 Apr, 2009.

Well well well, the final slated new release from the bowels of the behemoth that is/was Touch & Go is here. The debut full length from Crystal Antlers is a gradually enveloping beast marrying meshed guitar strokes & feisty percussion to a rusty old proggy keyboard & throaty vox, the initial outpourings fro 'Tentacles' suggesting a blend of The Seeds crossed with Fucked Up's mellower moments. They have those similar wayward, meandering fuzzed guitar lines that eek out their own passage of discovery but the overall impression is of a reasonably authentic sounding lost psychedelic garage band with a bit of grit & passion. Some of the songs strike me as slightly pastiche-tastic, the vocals hardly more credible than Bobby Gillespie at his best but then they provide a lovely drifting shoegazey instrumental called 'Vapour Trails' and the organic, flowing nature of the band's essence rises to the fore. The title track however, is a revelation, a psych-punk maelstrom that I could see BJM & Warlocks fans really digging. Other highlights are the ghostly spiralling tendrils of 'Memorized' and the anguished jazzy flailing of 'Your Spears'. On second listen I think they've got one of those crate digger sounds where if you persist you could just be rewarded with your fave album of the year. I do especially like this band's sound when they let fuckin' rip, pushing their multi-hued sound forward in all directions to create a kaleidoscopic melee of shambling, druggy head music. So, a perfectly admirable swansong for the worlds most pioneering & stubbornly RIGHT record label. Perhaps of appeal to someone that wants a bit of quality retro without the appalling Wooden Shijps shjitting in their ears.

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