Untied States - Instant Everything, Constant Nothing
Owain Paciuszko
http://www.godisinthetvzine.co.uk/content/content_detail.php?id=3789&type=DemosAtlanta five-piece Untied States new LP is a confident, post-punk rock record that has the feel of Grizzly Bear doing battle with Sonic Youth. From the opening of dischordant Gorilla the Bull there's a thoroughly energetic and imaginative chord running through their output, it's lively in a way that is always refreshing to the ears. Regardless of how much new music you like, you'll breathe a sigh of relief and think 'These guys get it.'
Not Fences, Mere Masks trundles forward with vocals somewhat akin to The Vines in psychedelic Autumn Shade-mode and woozy guitars barking over frenetically pattered percussion. It comes cascading towards a spine-tinglingly menacing and - dare I say it - groovy finale, with instruments clattering towards a climax like a steam powered war machine.
The two figureheads of the band, Colin Arnstein and Skip Engelbrecht, met as four year olds in Florida and moved from tackle football to forming a band. This is the first full length release by Untied States to not be mixed in their home, and for once the tricks and tools of a studio have given a band a huge lease of life, allowing their sound to expand into the places their scope and ambition desires. The grand echoing swagger of Unsilvered Mirrors has all the addled bombast of Nirvana going stadium-sized. Elsewhere Grey Tangerines uses samples to great effect, adding an additional, glitchy vibe to their cataclysmic sound.
Things slow down for the synthy, waltz of These Dead Birds which recalls Sparklehorse in part, and all too accurately is a sonic interpretation of the album's chosen subject matter; mental illness. Wandering into the spooky opening of Take Time For Always which becomes a ghost train at hi-speed hurtling you down the tracks like a malevolent cover version of Johnny Cash's Walk The Line done by The Banana Splits. Bye Bye Bi-Polar begins with grumbling bass jostling against light guitars accompanied by an electronic hiss of computer blips and bleeps, it's a hugely atmospheric experience that switches again and again with Brian Jonestown Massacre-like poetic skill from mood to mood.
Wrestling With Entropy in the Rehabbed Factory is a glorious, pseudo-operatic happening with the aural grandeur of Mogwai dancing alongside a late-The Beatles experimentalism and sense of melody. You can almost hear snatches of potential pop records drowning under the eerie percussion and dark chords of a pummelled grand piano, like Nick Cave chained to an anchor and sinking into the depths of delirium. Delusions Are Grander may find the band in somewhat safer musical territory, it kind of has a structure of sorts, but, again, it's a panic-breathed and wayward track that might bring to mind early-Muse or Sonic Youth's cover of The Carpenters's Superstar.
Penultimate track Holding Up Walls is a quick-footed two minute nugget and again brings to mind The Vines (but back when they were deserving of their hype), it borders on a chorus with the repeated lyric; 'Let me make it safe.' It segues into Kowtow Great Equalizer with a whirr and flurry of electrofuzz that lends a certain neck-hair-raising anticipation to where the band are about to lead you and they close the record with a reverbed Rawhide finale.
I'm afraid of hyperbole, but this is an LP that track-by-track keeps outdoing itself; even if you like an album there's a fear that with each new song the band will implode and go off the rails. That's not the case here. This record is a feast of sound for a hungry mind, and whilst some may find it too much to bear, it's 'descent into madness' is brilliantly realised and - for those who can stomach it - utterly compelling to listen to.
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From WHISPERIN AND HOLLERIN
http://www.whisperinandhollerin.com/reviews/review.asp?id=6501Review: 'UNTIED STATES'
'INSTANT EVERYTHING, CONSTANT NOTHING'
- Label: '
www.myspace.com/untiedstates'
- Genre: 'Rock' - Release Date: 'September 2009'
Our Rating:
Imagine if Black Rebel Motorcycle Club had lived up to their potential.
Instant Everything, Constant Nothing is an exercise in elaborate garage rock, and it's an interesting one at that. 'ËœNot Fences, Mere Masks' sounds like The Cooper Temple Clause when they were good, but better. It pulsates through a multitude of aggressive, slightly awkward riffs, lurching into a new idea every few seconds, not too far off being a megamix. There's not a second to get bored.
'Unsilvered Mirrors' is a sinister, shoe-gazing number, as bleak as Liars, if a tiny bit more accessible. 'These Dead Birds' adds a spit-heavy layer of aggression to proceedings, in and amongst the dominant mournful elements. To describe each song is to miss a whole host of other things. There's so much going on, so many different moods and styles that by no means sounds disjointed.
'Take Time For Always' in an uncomfortably frantic, shouty effort made compulsive by everything else that is going on in the background. It briefly slams on the brakes, before meandering its' way back to the verse all over again. It's clearly the best song on an album full of contenders. 'Bye-Bye Bi-Polar' has the expected loud-quiet stand-off, but it's done very well. The words are irrelevant, the music supports the title perfectly.
Throughout there are hints of bands that have gone before, who must have shared the same influences as BRMC, The Vines, The Cooper Temple Clause, The Von Bondies, Mansun and their forefathers. But it's about taking those influences and running with them, creating these complex, mental tapestries. It's complicated enough to please the art-rock crowd, as well as perhaps ensnaring the hearts of some of the NME crowd.Â
Diversity, innovation and range. It sounds like the start to some smug wanker's CV, or how The Body Shop might choose to market themselves at some point in the future. But it's also three qualities that are on display on this sometimes remarkable album. Prog-garage is here, people. This might be the thing to for those who just can't bear to hear another Mars Volta album.
From "Comfort Comes"
http://www.comfortcomes.com/2009/10/19/review-untied-states-instant-everything-constant-nothing/A little while back, I got a CD in the mail from a band I’ve never heard (and honestly, still can’t find much info on) from Atlanta called Untied States. This usually isn’t a very promising situation. I put the disc in and it actually turned out to be pretty cool.
Untied States take a lot from the early nineties alternative era (probably most specifically, Sonic Youth), yet maintain a fairly unique sound, building songs up with a wide array of instruments and noises, but also throwing lots of quick change-ups into the mix.
From start to finish, its a pretty solid album. Below is a link to download a track.
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