Description
The Crystal Antlers self-titled debut for L.A.s Innovative Leisure was recorded at bassist/vocalist Jonny Bells home studio. This set marks not only an extension of the bands garagey neo-speech roots, but an expansion into new sonic terrains using synths and drum machines, though they never dominate the basic guitar/bass/drums/organ attack; they supplement it as added noise and texture. These 11 songs reveal that this trio has become not only comfortable in the recording studio, but with one another as musicians; they are willing to push themselves into a new red zone. On opener Pray, one can hear trace elements of melody from the Cure and the Psychedelic Furs; but before rolling your eyes, know the attack is explosive, frantic, played at a pace near howling in its urgency. First single Rattlesnake commences with a slow, plodding bassline and a cheesy Farfisa. Bells voice recalls Paul Westerbergs confessional confusion just before guitars and drums erupt à la Hüsker Dü to push him into committing. The nightmarish Licorice Pizza updates the sound of L.A. punk circa the late 70s. Persephone and its immediate successor, Anywhere But Here, are drenched in layers of feedback, guitar sting, and delirious, ricocheting melodies. Better Things careens like a live wire against hardcore punk, psych, and garage rock. While Dont Think of the Stone is a fine, drifting ballad, it does feel more like a B-side than an album cut. Its an outlier. Closer Prisoner Song is also slow, but its walls of barely contained guitar feedback and distortion lay down the wallop against a blissy synth backdrop, crunchy yet majestic drums, and a humming bassline. They all serve Bells emotionally wracked vocal as he strains to get above the din. All things tolled, Nothing Is Real evidences everything right about indie rock. Though it blisters with intensity, it boasts well-written songs illustrated by canny production, played with confident recklessness and vulnerable honesty. (And its got a great cover by no less than C.R. Stcyk III to boot.) ~ Thom Jurek
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