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...according to our Brian on Thu 29 May, 2008.
Totally overwhelmed with stock today so let's be brief. A CD on Suicide Squeeze next from from Russian Circles called 'Station' which is in an appealing digipak set up complete with sepia tinged photos of forces types parading for a group mug shot prompting the question....Would any of these chaps (for they look to be all geezers) have approved of being used as the artwork for a post rock album? Well, it's not bad, full of the usual hushed dynamics, twiddly intertwining guitars, macho riffs, moody gliding bass & studious drums. Not much REAL drama to be honest, but all very nicely executed & dynamically produced. Some moments are a little more rocky than others, there's some brooding, stately passages & the whole thing has an air of epic grandeur. These are the adjectives i'll always use to describe music in this hallowed style so why stop now? Problem for me is that I just bought a couple of Converge CDs so now when the tension hots up & the rifferama starts pounding a bit, I expect some tattooed psycho to start screaming like a banshee in my ear & the whole thing to exit for planet Slayer jazz mindfuck. But if you like all the usual quietLOUDquiet suspects then this is very fine quality gear indeed....Formed in the Windy City in 2004, Russian Circles were born and from the beginning it was their concoction of metal trimmings, minimal jazz primers and cryptic riffs that hit the scene out of nowhere with the pummeling impact of a rouge comet crashing in from the skies. Their music weaves up an intense and cinematic albeit soothing clobbering that cannot be put into words but instead into forms of audible head trips that defies pigeonholing. “There is so much categorization out there” notes guitarist Mike Sullivan. “I think our sound is just too broad to be labeled as any sort of sub-genre”.
It wasn’t long before their 2006 debut long player, ‘Enter’, dropped with a booming impact and saw them sharing the stage with the likes of Tool, Dalek, Daughters and Pelican. Russian Circles have managed to progress forward with a newfangled approach toward their live performances. Their lumbering layers of chiseled post rock and feathery psychedelic infusions have both revved and enticed the listeners into mental orgasms the world over.
‘Station’, was recorded at Seattle’s Studio Litho with producer Matt Bayles (Mastodon, Minus the Bear and Isis). When asked about the recording process Sullivan cites Bayles as a driving force behind the album’s precise synergy. Joining Sullivan and Dave Turncrantz (Drums) on the recording was These Arms are Snakes/ Botch bassist Brian Cook with Morgan Henderson of The Blood Brothers also lending his skills on double bass to the track ‘Xavii’.
While Russian Circles are picking up where they left off with ‘Enter’, Station is guaranteed to be a new passage for a band already known for paving their own unique paths of sonic tundras that jolt the mind and body and will not only leave it’s mark on 2008 but on the future influence of music as a whole
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