Crystal Antlers

TheOwlMag on Crystal Antlers

Artist: Crystal Antlers Album: EP Label: Touch & Go Records Rating: Buy it >>

The Crystal Antlers are super hyped, and with their self-released EP they’ve fascinated critics and music-lovers alike with their promise. In the NBA you hear terms like “upside” thrown around, even when a player has yet to prove anything. In rock and roll it is very similar: a band can put out a track and the whole internet goes nuts about “The Next Big Thing.” Crystal Antlers finally seem worthy of this title.

The EP starts with “Until the Sun Dies” and wraps and winds its way through multiple tempo changes and tones. The guys can come down hard and then break into a meandering groove, which provides an almost essential contrast as the guys can get so heavy. Feedback and distortion are plentiful as guitars wail. It’s fairly bad ass. Vocalist Johnny Bell sounds like he’s tearing vocal chords at some points. It’s unsettling in a good way. “Parting Song from the Torn Sky” closes the EP in a not so tidy package, even clocking in at seven plus minutes. This EP is a dense and complicated piece of music, one that demands multiple listens. Tentacles, the debut album for Crystal Antlers, drops April 7.

- Review submitted by Jeff Bracco.

TheOwlMag on Crystal Antlers

Artist: Crystal Antlers Album: Tentacles Label: Touch and Go Rating: Buy it >>

When a band receives a fair amount of publicity based on a handful of songs there are usually two ways to go: they can attempt to create an accessible album to satisfy a burgeoning audience, or they can withdraw and make more obscure music, challenging their new audience to follow them. Tentacles manages to accomplish the former on its first few songs, but Crytsal Antlers seems to give it all up on the second half of the album. The band is honing their style and taking even more chances than their EP did.

The album starts out with the instrumental track “Painless Sleep.” It’s a sign of what’s to come: a chaotic mix of drums from the band’s two drummers, manic organs, as well as guitars and bass that bleed all together in a messy, challenging sound. The more spins the album gets the better it sounds. “Dust” features some dramatic tempo swings from full rock mode to silence and back again. The guitar work by Andrew King is wild and creative, often going off on its own. Lead singer Johnny Bell sings in a muffled growl, and kills his throat with guttural screams. It sounds amazing on the album’s standout track “Andrew,” as Bell lends support for a friend going through troubled times: “Don’t try to fight through this space alone, I’ll try not to break.” The band is able to balance so many moods in the song, from despair to triumph to defiance. The band follows the brilliance of “Andrew” with “Vapor Trial,” a slowed psyche instrumental that allows the record to breathe. Crystal Antlers’ patience is improved over their self-titled 2008 EP with the instrumental tracks, which provide a nice balance to this album. The last part of the album meanders a little, and lacks the focus that makes the first few songs so immediate. At the halfway point of the seven-plus minute “Several Tongues” Bell sings “Love me again,” and it sounds like he’s floating in space. 

- Review submitted by Jeff Bracco.

TheOwlMag on Crystal Antlers

Crystal Antlers Two-Way Mirror [Recreation Ltd.]

I mean, should I be nice here because Crystal Antlers is putting their art out there and clearly they have a following if they played at SXSW? Or should I listen to the evil, shit-talking little devil on my shoulder? Let’s try both.

Supportive Sara: When it’s good, Two-Way Mirror is solidly ‘B-range’ good. The title track “Two-Way Mirror” is an interesting mix of surfer rock and grunge, and the incessant reverb that nearly ruins the album actually fits here. “Way Out” is another glimmer of hope with haunting, melodic psychedelic-ish jazz organ. (Of course it’s pretty much an interlude at a mere 1 minute 42 seconds.) Jack Endino (previous collaborations with Nirvana and Mudhoney, the record label points out) mixed the tracks. This is a pro and a con for reasons explained below in the bitch portion of this review.

Shit Talking Sara: I find it interesting the record label chose to list Nirvana and Mudhoney alongside Crystal Antlers in any capacity for two bitchy reasons: 1. It’s not 1993. It’s 2011. I get as nostalgic as the next 1982 baby for the good old days when rock was grunge, music was actually created by real instruments and played by real musicians, and screeching was a valid form of expression. That said, you simply cannot make a sound which fits perfectly in the middle of a done-to-death genre of music and expect praise. 2. Crystal Antlers, to me, lacks the focus that is evident in Nirvana’s piercing genius and Mudhoney’s signature balance between 70′s punk and 60′s counterculture. Is Two-Way Mirror an homage to grunge? To screeching/melancholy vocals? To guitar riffs? To jazz-like progressions? To syrupy slow drums? To reverb? Well, clearly to reverb… And oh my STARS, was I bored listening to this. When Two-Way Mirror drags, it drags hard. This is especially true for the track “Fortune Telling”. I found myself gritting my teeth and trying to force back the familiar feeling of being held hostage in some asshat’s basement pretending to be riveted by my friend Daniel’s middle school garage band (sorry, Daniel). Again, the 90′s are no more- act accordingly.

Devil wins this round.

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Pitchfork Best Albums on Crystal Antlers

Album "EP" scored 8.5

Crystal Antlers look like outcasts from six different bands, and at various points on this record, they sound like it, too. Merging lo-fi, psych, garage, and everything in between, their debut EP is a...

covertcuriosity on Crystal Antlers

Not only are Crystal Antlers responsible for one of my favorite t-shirts, they are now responsible for one of my favorite albums of 2009. more at blogspot.com

CokeMachine on Crystal Antlers

One thing is certain: the mess of post-punk influences and shrapnel-laced riffage that is Crystal Antlers has produced something undeniably big. EP is in perpetual motion, a ball of exhausted and exhaustive energy that entices if only through sheer will. more at www.cokemachineglow.com