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SPIN MAGAZINE BAND OF THE DAY 12/8/05
TIME OUT NEW YORK 11/10/05
"PAUSED UPON THE REWIND" TASTELIKECHICKEN.COM's "SONG OF THE DAY TO ROCK OUT TO"
Movement Magazine:
FUTURE-ROCK'S FINEST HOUR:
The second e.p. from Brooklyn masterminds The Negatones to be released Mar.15th
In 1997 two brothers from Brooklyn, Jay and Justin Braun, left the noise and garage-rock bands they were playing in and formed the Negatones, an NYC band in the truest sense: a gritty, cross-cultural, genre-defying melting pot of style and sound.
Despite incarceration, failing analog gear, and numerous crying jags, the Negatones managed to self-record their first single (Something for You). This got the attention of Tokyo guitarist Jun Takeshta, a former classmate of Jay's, who moved back to the U.S. with the sole purpose of playing in the Negatones. After Jun’s strangely sudden arrival and a few months of practice, the Negatones recorded "The Heavy EP" and now the cassette four-tracked "Snacktronica" both of which have enjoyed impressive critical and radio success. Not surprising, considering The Brauns also recorded the Firey Furnaces, Palomar, and the Stills' Atlantic single 'Still in Love Song' all in their rehearsal space.
"This is about as good a rock band as you can possibly ask for." says Tris McCall in the 2002 Pop Music Abstract. "Their experimentation with form and integration of electronic elements are simultaneously courageous and stylish, and they have the instrumental skill to successfully harmonize theirprog-rock ambitions with their very infectious sense of humor."
Live, the Negatones are probably the only band in the world to cover Van Halen's Hot For Teacher, Rush's Tom Sawyer, and Duran Duran's Rio in the same set. And they do it with such gusto and aplomb you'll wonder if they're kidding. Simply put, the Negatones are a band so funny you won't want to take them seriously, but so good that you'll have to.
Time Out New York featured pick:
The members of Brooklyn foursome the Negatones have loaned their studio wizardry to some of our favorite NY artists (Fiery Furnaces, for one), and now they're turning their skills on their own project. The band's upcoming self-titled debut is an exhilarating electrified ride through rock history. Glam, punk, metal, disco, country pickin', it's all there. (C. Black) Village Voice Choice pick:
Local Moog (not mook) rock with big riffs, big drums, anthemic time shifts, frantic shouting, short songs, placid parts, jazzy spans, and more. Cuts about being the Godfather (see: Spoonie Gee) and insomnia jump right out of their new CD. (Chuck Eddy, music editor)
The Negatones play aggressive catchy rock songs with an attitude. Unconventional sound textures are part of their repertoire too - and we like that. -The Deli Magazine
Over the last half decade or so, I’ve seen this NYC quartet slowly morph and evolve from a grungy bar band that dazzled audiences with guitar-hero covers of Van Halen and Rush into the post-modern masters of the mini-Moog. There are still guitars on The Negatones, as well as all the other little gimcracks and gewgaws that have made this group such an offbeat and engaging live band – Jun Takeshta’s vibraphone, Jay Braun’s banjo, lockstep sibling harmonies, insane layers of intersecting and crosscutting synthesizers whose beeps, burps, whistles, and melodies collide like pinballs in an arcade. One of NYC’s most innovative bands.
- Jim Testa, Jersey Beat Fall '05
The new CD simply called ‘The Negatones’ is a masterpiece collection of their eclectic influences. Their constant left-of-center approach to their sonic stew is refreshing to say the least. It’ll kick your eardrums into shape for sure. There's so much going on here that any attempts to draw comparisons are futile. Yes you can hear their influences, from Prog to Punk to New Wave to Pop to Jazz. But it's how they put it all together that makes them unique.- stephenbailey.com
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• Recalling equal parts Devo and CBGB's, art-pop and noise-punk, here is a band that can carry a party, have a good time, and still make interesting music that makes you think - and rock out.
In Music We Trust, Issue 67, September 2004
• The Negatones' adventurous mindset is a breath of fresh air.
The Daily Vidette, Illinois State University
• A fast-paced space-chase from Brooklyn to realms unknown. It's a wondrous mix of pared down electronica, a dollop of the mighty Porn Horns, and all of the goodness rock music has to offer. This album should definitely not be ignored.
Camille Acey, Kitty Magik Magazine, August 2004 www.kittymagic.com
• On their second EP, the Negatones continue to play fast and tight. Smart, strange, and energetic, the Negatones have the sound of a band that has shaped its music and live performing. They may not be getting a bite from a big label, but they should.
4 Stars
William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
• Who are the Negatones and why hadn't I heard of them until the moment I slipped on this explosive five-song EP? I demand an answer. A better question would be why this NYC-based quartet hasn't toppled the current rash of no-wave hipster bands with their finely-tweaked electro-noise-pop . The Negatones spread magnificently off-kilter jazz over seizure-inducing guitar and crackling distortion squeals like an aural bonfire gone utterly awry. These songs don't need their hand held either, each song of this five-song pie has its very own refreshingly independent vibe.
Dave Kargol, Skratch Magazine April 2004
• Any attempt to properly classify or even describe the bands sound proves an excersise in futility. But we'll try anyway. Bottom line: its unusual, unpredictable and screams fun. Be cool for once and throw this on at your next party instead of that damn Strokes record.
Dan Pastorius, Rockpile, June 2004
• They're the NYC indie group for whom quality control is the highest possible virtue. In any just universe, these guys would be rewarded stupendously for their creativity.
2004 Pop Music Abstract
• A careful listen will reveal sounds not dissimilar to Beck, a poor mans Beatles or Ween. A less careful listen will simply render a good time. Give these guys permission to make a double album.
Gordon Lamb, Flagpole, March 24, 2004
• Why people hate smart alecks.
Greil Marcus, City Pages Real Life Top 10 3/3/04
• He did say you guys were smart.
Judah Bauer
• On the Snacktronica EP, the four piece group rips through 5 songs in just about 12 minutes to leave it all on the proverbial floor in that time. Imagine gritty rock with squalking keyboards, catchy guitar riffs, chimes, breakbeats, Ween-esque vocals and horns. The group blasts through with so much gusto that it's hard not to fall under the trance.
almostcool.org
• Justin, Jay, Jesse and Jun -- their alliteration implies boy-band boring-ness, but their band, the Negatones' sound is all smart-rock goodness. Butt-bouncing tunage that will have you tapping your desk and nodding your head. Maybe with only four guys to split the paychecks from gigging, they can survive. I hope so; the world needs them to.
RA Miller, Arriviste Press
• They may make their living as assistants to Strokes producer Gordon Raphael, but brothers Jay and Justin Braun don't believe in taking their work home with them. Their band is simply having too good a time to be confused with ye olde red-hot garage-rock pinups. And they're all over the place on Snacktronica. Yet the title is all too appropriate -- the Negatones have served only a handful of compilation tracks, and Snacktronica clocks in at just under 11 minutes. It's way past time for the Negatones to whip up a real meal and put themselves on the map.
Ray Cummings, The Pitch May 13, 2004 www.pitch.com
• The Negatones are led by Jay Braun, whose musical history includes stints in Band of Susans and the Mooney Suzuki. It's not surprising, then, that Snacktronica is a little experimental and a lot rockin'. Too many bands confuse taking their music seriously with taking themselves seriously; these guys don't. This might be ear candy, but it's well-done ear candy.
Rounding out the band are Braun's brother Justin on bass, Jesse Wallace on drums and Jun Takeshta on guitars and additional fun things like vibraphone and Radio Shack Moog. Actually, all of the group's members get into the musical toy box sooner or later; the CD sleeve's equipment list reads like a gearhead's dream garage sale. The odder instruments are chief characteristics of the Negatones' sound, but they don't ever seem contrived (i.e. "we're esoteric and cool because we have a xylophone!"). There's an interesting mix of organic and electronic. The very brief "Conflict Error (part II of the Information Processing Trilogy)" consists of about two minutes of vibraphone laid over grinding guitars and rapid-fire, Amon Tobin-ish beats from both kit and hand drums. The juxtaposition of straight-up rock n' roll with what can only be called stoner grooves is also compelling, as tracks like the bleepily hallucinogenic "I Suspect There's More" are compared with "And So My Troubles Began", the disc's brassy, uptempo opener. None of these songs sound much like any of the others, and sometimes not even like the same band wrote them, but they're all tight, listenable and creative.
Sarah Zachrich, Splendid, 4/26/2004
• Catchy and full of delicious ear candy: it is strange seeing them emerge from the Brooklyn, N.Y., scene (the new home for neo-no-wave and neo-garage rock) with such prominence. No one is really doing this sound and the Negatones definitely do not suffer the pitfalls of being radio unfriendly.
SlugMagazine
• Rarely are short EPs worth reviewing, and, at 10 minutes, Snacktronica is barely a short EP. But The Negatones have fit more good music than many full length albums into a CD the length of a single (and a badly named one at that).
Combining surf-rock guitar and garage-rock bass, Strokes energy and Eels fusion of instruments, The Negatones stint in the New York rock scene has garnered them a celebrity fan club. The Strokes, Lee Renaldo, and the Mooney Suzuki have given the band kudos, and for good reason. The Negatones are one of the best things in rock 'n' roll right now. Snacktronica features a production heavy sound that still seems disorganized. The Negtones effortlessly use distortion and xylophone layers, and meld sparse genres into layered songs. On the strength of a 10-minute-long EP, The Negatones have set a high bar for the full length release which should follow it. With albums like Snacktronica, they'll make a mark in music.
Joe Uchill, The Daily Cardinal, University of Wisconsin, May 5, 2004
• Let me say again what ought to be painfully obvious to clubgoers citywide: there's no aesthetic mileage left to squeeze out of the neo-garage movement and the eightieth iteration of Iggy Pop. That car stalled on the highway sometime during 2001, and the usual bandits are now stripping the carcass and selling off the parts. Lucrative business, yes, but pleasant or improving only to culture merchants and camp followers. Luckily, poised to crash to earth Skylab-style, the Negatones are battle-hardened and ready for whatever. If you, too, are frustrated by the propensity of intelligent New York City musicians to talk down to their audiences, you'll join me in welcoming a little craft, density, and virtuosic good humor back to the Manhattan mainstage. Techno-rockers, spazzes, conceptualists, gaming-geeks and high ironists -- the future starts with Snacktronica.
www.trismccall.net
• also check out Tris McCall's definitive onlne review of 'Snacktronica' at
www.nj.com/weblogs/music/index.ssf?/ mtlogs/njo_indiemusic/archives/2004_03.html
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NEGATONES - "The Heavy EP" (Melody Lanes, 105 Stanton St. NYC 10002)
"They have damaged but highly entertaining ideas about electronics and music and loud guitars (two of them), not to mention a pounding bass. This five-song ep is a pretty swank introduction to the band: not long, but with enough songs to get across their diversity of sound. I like a great many things about this ep: the way "Carbon Freeze" sounds like a lost Band of Susans song (the connection's probably not accidental: one of the Braun brothers, not sure which one since i can't keep 'em straight anyhow, played with Band of Susans on their later tours); the fact that Jay Braun and Jun Takeshta play "left and right" guitars; the way "Thin Automation" really swings, like, you know, *real* bands used to do before it apparently became hip to jump up 'n down instead; that they have Moogs and use them shamelessly; that they are probably big Devo fans. They are also really loud 'n bright-sounding. You can't fuck with them, man, they have the goddamn xylophone of the gods... fear them... fear them...."
- Monotremata, issue 56 3/03
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This is about as good a rock band as you can possibly ask for. Their experimentation with form and integration of electronic elements are simultaneously courageous and stylish, and they have the instrumental skill to successfully harmonize their prog-rock ambitions with their very infectious sense of humor. This is rock majesty -- undeniable, royal, crazy, angry as a deposed prince, amusing as his scheming jester. The Negatones walk the edge. They do so at shows and on record, teetering on the brink of chaotic collapse, pushing pop songs to the bursting point. Theres a perfectionism working here thats uncommon among Brooklyn artists. In a borough that wears minimalism as a badge, the Negatones revel in overdub-happy maximalism. While slapdash record-making on fetishized analog media has become the norm, The Heavy EP sounds hyper-processed, defiantly digital. Can they find their archetype and fit in the mythology of Brooklyn music? The Negatones are every mythological figure that was cast off the mountain and found power not by courtesy of the mysteries of the divine, but by twisting the implements of the built environment to purposes of which the gods never dreamed.
- Culled from a 3-page review of the Negatones in The 2002 Pop Music Abstract
"The Negatones hail from the NYC/NJ area & they fucking rock out like a late 90's underground rock band wish they could have at the time. The music is catchy and they must be awesome live after a few cheap domestic beers proceeding a night drinking a pot of coffee. The Negatones are rock."
- Torpedo Magazine October 2002
Brooklyn's Negatones have been bouncing around the underbelly of the NY club scene for about as long as Mooney Suzuki (in fact, I met both bands on a double bill about 5 years ago.) But while the Mooneys' garage-rock seems to look to the past for inspiration, the Negatones bravely go where no spastic post-punk noise combo has gone before, though the songs here are more hysterical than heavy. The jagged but seamless two-part harmonies of siblings Jay and Justin Braun propel these gritty (yet still recognizably pop) tunes, with lumpy, swaggering bass lines, weird outer-space guitar solos, and frantic drum breakdowns. Llistening to this EP is like drinking a quart of Starbucks coffee with a methamphetamine chaser. You'll be a nervous wreck, but happy for the experience.
- Jersey Beat 20th Anniversary Issue
They were sensational, building slowly to an apocalyptic pop-punk-metal explosion that mixed arena-rock guitar with lead xylophone, and had their frontman Jay rolling on the floor.
- Jim Testa, Jersey Beat, April 2000
The Negatones are the perfect middle-ground between the Pretenders first album, indie-rock, and King Crimson.
- Tris McCall, Feb 2000
"The Negatones totally won over the crowd with Jay and Justin's skintight harmonies, the cool goofy punk tunes and of course the xylophone. Talk about a secret weapon! How can you resist a band with a xylophone? While they didn't do their cover of 'Hot for Teacher', Jay did bust a few breakdancin' moves on the dancefloor."
- Jersey Beat Winter 2000 IMF review
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