SUGARLAND Reviews
TALK NORMAL's self-released 2008 EP,
Secret Cog, meshed a lot of post-punk influences into each of its five songs. But "In a Strangeland", from their forthcoming
Rare Book Room debut
Sugarland,
finds them squarely in Teenage Jesus and the Jerks mode. There are
echoes of Lydia Lunch's primal trio in the thumping, dogmatic beat, the
lyrics about alienation and danger, and the atonal guitar blasts that
break up desolate verses, like bombs tossed into an abandoned warehouse.
But the song is no carbon copy. Andrya Ambro's drumming is a
distinctive combo of clicking energy and depth-plunging stomp, while
Sarah Register's vocals can handle both desperate screech and
matter-of-fact detachment somewhere between Karen O and Kim Gordon. In
fact, "In a Strangeland" also evokes the bridge from Sonic Youth's
"Death Valley '69",
building momentum with simple, short lyrics-- "Help me/ I'm a stranger/
In a strangeland"-- and repetitive rhythm. Of course, Lydia Lunch sang
on that song too, but the assured confidence of "In a Strangeland'' is
a result of inspiration, not imitation.
In the sort of documentary, sort of drama, Downtown 81, about New York’s art and music scene in the early ’80s, the band DNA performs in a studio
and it’s super awkward and arty, manufactured aggression, like a weird
art provocation more than a band. Just a year or two after that, Sonic
Youth wrote the song “Burning Spear,”
titled in tribute to the heaviness of the dub legend interpreted
through a bunch of guitar racket. Soon after that, Swans not only
recorded a black hole of violent gurgle, but they called it “Raping a Slave.” There is an evolving history of bizarreness translated into brutal, arty music and New York duo TALK NORMAL has kept an ear on this brand of sludgy dirge. “In a Strangeland” from their upcoming album on Rare Book Room, Sugarland,
is heavy and loud. It’s completely punishing in the simplest way, like
they mic’d each other in a fight with baseball bats where their bones
never break so they just keep swinging. -Matthew Schnipper, Fader (9/3/09)
SECERET COG Reviews
Formed in 2007, Brooklyn duo TALK NORMAL have already been compared to 1970s No Wave. Indeed, the scratchy guitars of their debut mini-album Secret Cog evoke the mangled bursts of DNA’s Arto Lindsay, and their spilling songs reach the structured abstraction of No Wave’s most unclassifiable group, Ut.
A lot of other rock history comes into play. The clipped tension that connects Sonic Youth, Pylon and Erase Errata comes through in the chiming chords and sharp rhythms of “Eureka” and “Lemonade”. Unlike with those groups, there’s not much to dance to here. Their grinding, ghostly music lurches more than it swings and churns more that it grooves. But guitarist Sarah Register and drummer Andrya Ambro continually build tension, imbuing cacophonous climaxes and quiet interludes with equal momentum.
Ultimately, TALK NORMAL belong to the Brooklyn Noise-rock circle inhabited by groups like Mouthus, Religious Knives and Sightings. The latter’s Richard Hoffman plays bass on standout track “33”, trading call and response notes with Ambro, then spitting out a signature bass loop under rolling drums and disembodied moans. Despite its taut energy, the piece has a spacious, soothing quality, suggesting that Register and Ambro might eventually explore more openly melodic territory. But hopefully the duo won’t lose the devotion to hypnotic repetition that makes Secret Cog worth returning to.
-Marc Masters, WIRE (5/09)"For ass-burning contempo No Wave sludge, nothing has been in higher recent rotation than Secret Cog, the self-released debut CD Brooklyn’s TALK NORMAL. Andrya Ambro and Sarah Register create a feverish hybrid of Lydia’s “crying guitar,” the maniacal yodel-power of Die Kleenex, and the part of the Magic Band the Minutemen also embraced, which probably means the Urinals are a shadow influence. Regardless, the five songs here are totally wired, and just blow away the imaginary competition."
-Byron Coley, Arthur Magazine (4/5/09)"On this five-song E.P., Brooklyn-based duo TALK NORMAL – drummer Andrya Ambro and guitarist Sarah Register – create a nice racket that does a deft job of splitting the difference between harsh sonics and the essential song-oriented structures required of noise rock. Neither a band in which noise is merely a bi-product of a savage attack nor an overtly experimental outfit steeped in this or that high concept, TALK NORMAL come off as an organic self-contained unit that extracts as much as they can from their explicitly minimal approach. Sure, there are some obvious touchstones here – Sonic Youth, Magik Markers, Ut, Teenage Jesus – but the songs never feel derivative.
Though various sorts of processed sounds work their way in and out of the picture, the band’s aesthetic is built on a basic foundation of guitars, drums and vocals. The duo are clearly working within a dark, neo-now wave framework, yet there‘s some variety, too. They can sound both hyper and dirgey, calling to mind heat-soaked basement shows and cold moldy practice spaces alike. “Grinnin’ in Your Face” opens the album and establishes the TALK NORMAL template, squiggling moans of feedback, a simple lurching riff, and a dual vocal attack all buoyed by frenetic drumming. “Eureka” then uses a Branca-style guitarscape as foundation for a sing-speak vocal monologuedirect from early ’80s downtown NYC. “Lemonade” rides a catchy little groove early on, and then builds to a drum-guitar/freak-out zenith.
Perhaps the most curious aspect of these tracks, however, is that despite whatever stabs of sound punctuate the atmosphere, or whatever structural shifts might occur, there’s always a simple, repetitive pulse present, not so much an anchor as a telltale heart of suppressed aggression. Even on the set’s most distinctive track, the stark finale “Rest With Me,” there’s a tension lurking, played out via a subtle, yet insidious throb.
TALK NORMAL are making their music amidst an increasingly cluttered underground landscape, and the duo’s seeming intrepidness in the face of that fact shines through. They’ve cultivated their own voice that, when combined with that strange festering energy, should make for solid stuff with each successive release."
-Nate Knaebel, Dusted (4/3/09)Call it no wave, noise, avant-skrock, or simply the harsh, grinding sound of the daughters of Mars and DNA writhing on their guitar necks and drum sticks beneath the light of a fiercely perturbed Venus. Though it might be less than visible on club bills of late, the underground of women testing the limits of dissonance never quite died, especially in the Bay where 16 Bitch Pileup, T.I.T.S., and Zeek Sheck have staked their ear-wrenching claim in a scene that can be as boy-heavy as any Mastodon show. Though the field has always been varied in its aural strategies, more contemplative, though no less challenging, music-makers like Grouper and Inca Ore - both with ties to these shores - have risen to the fore these days, thanks to last year’s Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill (Type) and Birthday of Bless You (Not Not Fun). Perhaps everyone - iconoclasts included - has toned themselves down for hard times, reserving judgement and preserving rage in anticipation of big-time change.
Brooklyn twosome drummer-vocalist Andrya Ambro and guitarist-vocalist Sarah Register, otherwise known as Talk Normal, do have their meditative moments, bent beneath Buddha Machine-y piano notes and sawed-at strings on the Secret Cog EP’s last track, “Rest With Me” until the drone dissolves into fragments of melody then miniature surges of glittered noise. But otherwise Ambro and Register embrace an aggro approach, issuing high-pitched squeals, horn peals, and lumbering counter rhythms on “Grinnin’ in Your Face,” which evoke not only Teenage Jesus and the Jerks but Pussy Galore and later NYC noise-mongers as well as Amphetamine Reptile rageaholics. Talk Normal, what’s normal?
Speaking for the white whales with the extinction blues on the wailing, scraping “Eureka,” the group falters slightly with the more forgettable, murkily mixed “Lemonade” before picking up the thread once more with the ragged, call-and-response “33” as Richard Hoffman of Sightings enters the pair’s ululating circle. Over too soon, **Secret Cog** makes one fantasize about Noise Pancakes with a side of Talk Normal’s warning shrieks and tortured guitar strings.
-Kimberly Chun, San Francisco Bay Guardian (4/7/09)Talk Normal, a Brooklyn duo comprised of Andrya Ambro and Sarah Register, massage your brain like sandpaper with their Secret Cog EP. But it feels so right. Opener “Grinnin’ in Your Face” is a propulsive dirge that becomes wonderfully unhinged as it dives and bends. The song functions as a compelling opener and a statement of purpose. The mechanized, off-kilter swirl that begins the track announces a point of departure outside mainstream rock.
“Eureka” has a Laurie Anderson-spoken word thing going on, a connection made stronger by the fact that the band shares its name with an Anderson anthology. But this isn’t as clinical as Anderson’s precise, electronic textures—it’s dirtier and more content in its wooziness. “Lemonade” breaks down into sparseness before building to a cathartic explosion. “33 (Featuring Richard Hoffman)” buzzes and clicks with layers of noise and an intermittent, buoyant bass line. The track bears a resemblance to the stop-start drumming and noise punctuation of “Broken Witch” by Liars, but still manages to carve out a distinct identity. Closer “Rest With Me” brings in piano to shoulder the intensity coursing through the entire EP. Talk Normal deserve more attention, as their music is infinitely more interesting than the majority of the Brooklyn critical darlings currently in operation. They can sand down my brain anytime.
-Craig Carson, Pop Matters (3/31/09)Band of the Week: Talk Normal
As the world has moved to embrace noise rock and the avant sounds coming from the underground the realm of these musicians has generally stayed as a boy only club. Apparently the men that make these aggressive, grating sounds are more prone to the type of anger that births these sonic palettes. I guess you can blame the testosterone. Luckily some girls are finally starting to sneak into the club house and show that just because they're estrogen based doesn't mean they can't get people to throw ear plugs in.
One such band is Brooklyn's Talk Normal, a two piece that have been piecing together noise rock for a couple of years now but have just released a new EP that completely blows the lid off everything they did before it. On the Secret Cog EP, Andrya Ambro and Sarah Register have certainly out done themselves crafting dark and moody No Wave that is just as unfriendly as any of the noise the boys are creating. The music is over powering at times, but still basically drum and guitar pop music, just with a wall of sound coming from behind that stuff. The closest association I can come up with for the band is Marnie Stern, though these girls don't really do the finger tapping thing she does, they do establish the continuous patterns and cycles within a song that Stern does. Oh, and Marnie Stern is apparently a fan of the band if that helps things along.
"Lemonade" is definitely the most ear friendly track out of the five on this EP, giving the same riff over and over and layering it just right but also not weighing the track down with too much noise. For my money I can't get over "33", a tune that features Richard Hoffman from Sightings on bass. This tune kicks ass from the simple repeating riff at the beginning to the explosion that happens when everything kicks together.
Talk Normal have definitely broken down a testosterone barrier with this short player and they apparently kick it even harder when they hit the stage. I haven't witnessed that yet but I hear they're gonna be coming to Staten Island soon even though they have no dates listed right now. I'm looking forward to seeing them, but I'll be content to listen to the EP until they list some dates.
-Pop Tarts Suck ToastedFor the past year and a half, TALK NORMAL have been playing the role of revivalists on the New York City noise-rock scene. On their new five-song self-released EP, Secret Cog, (released today) the Brooklyn duo wear their “No Wave” influences on their sleeves, while solidifying their role in the revolution.
Squealing repetitive guitar tones and bombastic trash can drums are mainstay weapons for drummer Andrya Ambro and guitarist Sarah Register. Ambro’s spoken word vocals burn through the clamor and clatter like white-hot phosphorus. This is an ugly album - until you wash away the grime and inspect the intrinsic beauty of the message.
This is best exemplified on Secret Cog’s standout track “Lemonade.” Chirping birds give way to a catchy up-tempo guitar riff. The rhythm builds over unintelligible cryptic vocals. Ambro occasionally asks, “Should you choose to accept?” The song crescendos and segues into a quiet passage where the missive is revealed.
Courage fades to fear. Fear fades to hope. When hope fades, there’s always lemonade.
Should you choose to accept?
-James Carnes, Haight Ashbury Press (1/26/09)No wave music is something that's somewhat hard to define, but fairly easy to identify. If there's any semblance of tonality or melody, then you're probably not listening to no wave. TALK NORMAL may not strictly fall under the genre's umbrella, but their abrasive, distorted and gut-wrenching punk face beating recalls early Sonic Youth, Bush Tetras and Mars, with drummer Andrya Ambro's tribal beats lending a consistent and structured backdrop to guitarist Sarah Register's squeaks and wails. "Eureka" actually nearly achieves accessibility, though Register still manages to extract sounds from her guitar that only its creator could decipher. And then "Lemonade" takes it even a step further toward normalcy (certainly an irony, given the band's name). I'm suddenly struck with a brilliant idea: TALK NORMAL should consider doing a split single with their inverse, Talkdemonic. C'mon guys, at least consider it.
-Jeff Terich , Treblezine.com (2/2/09)The O.G. New York no wave “movement” may only have lasted from 1976 to 1980, but its influences were widespread. And while the genre’s most commonly canonized bands — Teenage Jesus and The Jerks, The Contortions, Mars and DNA — didn’t share many stylistic similarities outside of atonality, all four implied a “fuck you!” to every imaginable establishment.
TALK NORMAL are the latest act to pick up the No Wave gauntlet, and the five tunes on this EP are bloody brilliant fun. Bored vocals, galloping drums, guitars that sound like animals dying and, best of all, some bona fide tunes: these gals got it all.
-Jesse Locke, The Herald (3/19/09)GENERAL & LIVE REVIEWS:
Tom Tom Magazine interviews Andrya ...
TALK NORMAL, a noisy, dissonant, experimentalish Brooklyn duo with a guitarist that at times sounds a little like Joey Santiago of the Pixies.
-The Deli Magazine (8/28/09)Impose Magazine asks us about our favorite records ...
"TALK NORMAL is no lightweight. Dark and moody and rhythmic and not real friendly- we likes what we hears."
-Mike Wolf, Time Out New York"TALK NORMAL put a fresh spin on classic No Wave dissonance, with Sarah Register's steady guitar figures supporting Andrya Ambro's staccato drumming and keening vocals. Tapes, electronics and the occasional sighting of bassist Richard Hoffman complete the picture."
-MW, Time Out New YorkLike copping a face of black marble and pawned, red blood. Guitars like baby-goo, drums blind dancing and arrangements which shed their own skin. The Plan B home entertainment dept demand you fill the room with the duo’s illbient heaviness
like insecticide next time you’re anti-socialising.
-Ringo P Stacey and kicking_k, Plan B Magazine (3/5/09)This band never missteps. Listen up.
-Tiny Mix Tapes"No wave is alive and well, if Brooklyn duo TALK NORMAL are any indication. Drummer Andrya Ambro keeps things cohesive with surprisingly precise percussion, occasionally banging on such things as an electric guitar and an old iron pipe rigged with contact mics, while guitarist Sarah Register coaxes some unnerving and discordant noises from her axe and array of pedals. The two take turns shouting abstract and absurdist lyrics with voices like hi-tech valkyries from a futurist nightmare, guaranteed to scare the twee right out of you."
-Gerry Mak, Lost At E Minor: Music, illustration, art, photography and more"Tonight's show is not for the faint of heart. Both Dan Friel and TALK NORMAL do not follow the standard protocol to creating pop music, but both are definitely creating something that is completely captivating. If you're a fan of the electronic side of rock music or the noisier side, make sure you check out this show."
-Pop Tarts Suck Toasted, This Week Live Picks (5/18/09)"...A much better example of teamwork was TALK NORMAL, who took the stage next. (Actually, in true punk style, they played on the floor.) The Brooklyn duo had such an incredible rapport that drummer Andrya Ambro and guitarist Sarah Register actually set up their rigs to face one another, often locking eye contact for long periods of time. They were dark, heavy, and noisy; Ambro's minimalist, machine-like drumming was in stark contrast to Register's histrionic noise. Register used a combination of resonant noise, pedals, finger slides, and pick slides to saturate the venue with a mix of riffs and noise. Meanwhile, Ambro fired off electronic samples, threw a pot on top of her snare and played it, and even used a guitar as a percussion instrument. The overall effect was like being trapped in the speed-addled nightmare of a Factory-era Andy Warhol follower. Riot grrrl never got this raw."
-Dan Barry, Hartford Advocate"TALK NORMAL is definitely a band to keep your eye on. I mean, if Marnie Stern likes them, then it’s good enough for me. In all seriousness though, I’ve witnessed an astute musical maturation process happening with the girls from TALK NORMAL. What started as misconstrued noise has morphed into distinct patterns backed by a wall of sound. It reminds me a bit of early Magik Markers, which is always good company to keep."
-Derek Evers, The Tripwire"The TALK NORMAL sound is very unique. Their music being the wikipedia of New York's no wave-scene and at the same time delivering the very FUTURE of music. They are what Teenage Jesus And The Jerks should have been, and what DNA was but noone truly understood. Blasting drumbeats with a hard jazz-feel backed up by walls of noisy guitars and looped feedback-noises. Extreme in a way, but still basic pop. Vocally they sing about small men and smiling kids in a way that could only be desribed as the bastad child of Diamanda Galas' and D Boon. Still being the child of teenage Kim Gordon and Laurie Anderson."
-Daniel Fagge Fagerström, Moptaco Dics"TALK NORMAL is a new 2 piece from Brooklyn NY consisting of members Andrya Ambro and Sarah Register. Disjointed angular structures contrast dense waves of percussion, found sounds, and melodic vocals, totally minimal and maximal all at once. Ridding out post punk creep jams and collage numbers reminiscent of This Heat,Talk Normal is a fresh one, lacking any kind of easy pigeon holing bullshit. This is really considered stuff. Very recommended."
-Shawn Reed, Night People"...totally unique duo TALK NORMAL, with driving punk drum onslaughts by Andrya Ambro and awesome experimental guitar noise by Sarah Register — awesome!"
-Other Music, Digital Music Store""TALK NORMAL is a minimalist, blues-based machine making deep rhythms out of few moving parts, with a human component to whisper its secrets between grinding cogs and metallic thuds."
-Sebastian Ischer, Monkeytown Review"At once rhythmic and dissonant, TALK NORMAL's blend of primitive disco-thumps, affected vocals, and dark scratchings are not to be missed!"
-Jacqueline Castel, (Make The) Product!, WNYU Radio"Brooklyn-based avant duo TALK NORMAL create a jagged guitar/drum attack reminiscent of The Fall and Throbbing Gristle."
-Billy J, The Adolescent Sessions, Viva-Radio"I don't know whether it was genious or if they sucked..."
-Some Guy In New London
BLOGS:
I waited all week to see this band. I had a lot of random people
tell me about them. Their set, full of rhythmic, tribal no-wave moves
was truly amazing. A definite highlight. I walked away with a t-shirt,
CD, LP, 2 cassettes, and a huge smile.
-Aaron Levin, CJSR Music Director, SXSW 2009 Wrap-Up (3/22/09)"...All I can say is don't take any psychedelic drugs before coming to see TALK NORMAL because they will probably make your brain explode in fear. Take it easy, Wes, take it easy."
Wesleying @ Blogspot"I have been slowly trying to divulge into the countless NIGHT PEOPLE cassettes ever since Shawn Reed past through in his new post-Raccoo-oo-oon band, Wet Hair last month. The first one that I got to throw in the deck completely blew me away. A band I never have heard of before from NYC called TALK NORMAL, instant crush and obsession. Drawn out and bizarre minimalist no-wave, for lack of better description. Like Die Monitr Batss at 16rpm, but with a more broad range, sort of reminding me of pre-Telepathe band, Wikkid, or even a more deranged Y Pants, but again, taking it to a more broken down level. Chatting back and forth with one of them, found out they wee opening the first Boss Hog gig in 7 years this week. You have no idea how much I'd like to be there for that."
-James Fella, Clap and Cough
"interesting little tape here. while i'm not agreeing with a majority of what i've been reading about these ladies (no wave?! the fall?! sonic youth-like guitar?!% way to step out on a limb! gah), i am enjoying this cassette. they do a good job of scrap-booking, that it is to say, taking little pieces away from different musical styles and collecting them. it's in the pieces that they've chosen to keep: the vocals that seemingly pay homage to both lydia lunch and metalux and pretty much eschew normalcy, their utter lack of interest in both rocking out and accessible choruses, instead using repetitive instrumentation as the hook (at least on this particular cassette)... these are the things that make them unique. honestly, i think they've got a good thing going as a duo (though the bassist was definitely an added bonus) and should keep riding this out as is, but oh well. we'll see what happens."
-Smooth Assailing, for more details on review of Night-People cassette.Hot Damn Jamz IV: Ten Bands We Are Crazy for This Week
Talk Normal
Talk Normal’s abrasive beats, keyboards and vocals are heavily No Wave-influenced and strangely hypnotic, suggesting what Liars might sound like if they were a female duo from Brooklyn.
-The Allmusic.com Blog, AMG StaffGuest List: Best of 2008
Guest List by PitchforkOnce again, we have asked many of our favorite artists from this year to tell us what they've enjoyed listening to in 2008, and some were kind enough to take the time to reply. Entries are presented, as are many of the lists they contain, in no particular order. From Fleet Foxes to Lil Wayne to Vampire Weekend, here's what was blaring out of tour bus stereos in 2008:
Marnie Stern1. Ponytail: Ice Cream Spiritual
2. Zach Hill: Astrological Straits
3. Krallice: Krallice
4. TALK NORMAL: TALK NORMAL
5. Gang Gang Dance: Saint Dymphna
6. Extra Life: Secular Works
7. Pterodactyl: Blue Jay and Upcoming Pterodactyl Record
8. Women: Women
9. High Places: High Places
10. Gay Beast: 2nd 3" CD-R