by rudyards | July 16th, 2013
Ed Hall (Austin, TX)
(Sorry, no website available)
“Armed with tribal thunder, psychedelic projections, and glow paint by the gallon, Ed Hall was the most successful band to emerge from the inaugural roster of Trance Syndicate Records, the local label started by Butthole Surfers drummer King Coffey. Formed in 1985 by guitarist Gary Chester, bassist Larry Strub, and drummer John Buron, Ed Hall tricked out Black Sabbath’s bleak spanking machine with multicolored shards of lysergic energy and the anything-goes spirit of early Austin punk bands like the Big Boys. Kevin Whitley replaced Buron shortly thereafter. Many of the trio’s early shows took place at Dong Huong, a Vietnamese restaurant-turned-punk club on North Loop, alongside emerging contemporaries such as ST 37 and the Pocket FishRmen. The Dong scene was documented on a cassette compilation called The Polyp Explodes, which ultimately brought Ed Hall to the attention of Boner Records owner Tom Flynn. Berkeley, Calif.-based Boner releasedAlbert (1988) and Love Poke Here (1990), both produced by Glass Eye bassist Brian Beattie. After signing with Trance in 1991, Ed Hall went to Madison, Wisc., to record 1992′s Gloryhole at Butch Vig’s Smart Studios. The album’s juiced-up production and nonsensical song titles like “Sandra Gubernatorial” (a twisted recasting of Kiss’ “Beth”) heightened the band’s indie-circuit profile considerably. Former Bayou Pigs/Sugar Shack drummer Lyman Hardy joined prior to the Gloryhole tour when Whitley departed to focus on the Cherubs. After recording 1994′s Motherscratcher in five straight days, Ed Hall spent much of that year on the road, touring with Flipper and the Dwarves, and recording John Peel’s BBC radio show in London. The trio headlined the 1995 Austin Music Awards Show and released their fifth album, La La Land, later that spring. Ed Hall broke up in 1996, but Chester, Strub, and Hardy continue to perform together in local electro-rock quintet Pong.” - Austin Chronicle
Brown Whörnet (Austin, TX)
https://www.brownwhornet.com/
“Austin’s Brown Whörnet is a band that prolifically encapsulates all that is good about not spending too much time on a single idea. The seven-man, one-woman collective hopscotches their way across musical boundaries like a barefoot kid on hot pavement. Whether they’re riffing on punk, metal, funk, jazz, film scores, or even klezmer music, Brown Whörnet attacks each passage with a vociferous intensity that seldom fails to keep an audience at attention.” - Austin Chronicle
” In addition to displaying promiscuous technical proficiency and toilet humor, Austin’s Brown Whornet curse the pope, tweak racial humor, and make hamburgers unappealing forever. They claim to have written more than a hundred “songs” over the past couple years, so their set list may not sound exactly like their latest self-released CD (also called Brown Whornet), but mangled free jazz, luv-me-baby R & B, parodically straight hardcore, and something that sounds like Yes on a boom box whose batteries are dying are all in their arsenal” - Chicago Reader
“Noodly new wave instrumentals, crunchy and menacing prog rock-outs, aberrant sound collages, a cappella doo-wop deviations, and demented sideshow accompaniments - Brown Whornet’s got to be the best (worst?) thing for a hangover since pickles and Coke. The Austin, Texas, eight piece has played with the likes of Daniel Johnston, Melt Banana, Mr. Quintron, TFUL282, and Wesley Willis, and if that’s not testimony enough, last time they were local they provided the accompaniment to Chicken John’s puppet-exploding, worm-swallowing, poultry-hypnotizing Cirkus Redickuless…” - SF Weekly
Gorch Fock (Austin, TX)
https://www.cdbaby.com/cd/gorchfock
Gorch Fock are a 7 piece heavy rock outfit from Austin, TX that incorporate 2 drummers, two guitarists, a bass player, a electronics/effects/baritone guitar/vocalist and a trombonist/vocalist. Deriving their name from a 19th century German naval training vessal, Gorch Fock’s polyrhythmic and undulating songs drive with gale force. The multiple drums, electronics and four guitar players combine to create a thick, layered, and textural sound that shifts dynamically like tides. Employing delay on both his trombone and vocals, Joey Ficklin, adds a dirge like quality to the music that is reminiscent of foghorns in the bay and sea shanties in the bar. For fans of experimental, heavy, psychadelic rock-
“Maniacal and explosive and wickedly confident”
-Monika Kendrick The Chicago Reader
GORCH FOCK, “Shirts vs. Skins”: “Guttural guitar stampedes through a double-drum ditch while a Boeing trombone flies overhead”
-Christopher Gray The Austin Chronicle
“… from Scratch Acid to the Butthole Surfers to Ed Hall and the Cherubs…Aural assault fanatics can now add Gorch Fock to that storied, grimy list”
-Joe Gross The Austin American Statesman
“And Gorch Fock are an intense band. Even their quieter moments- mostly in the spaces before the songs really get going — are fraught with uncomfortable rhythms and vaguely disquieting samples: a woman reading what sounds like a religious tract, a snippet of a Vietnam-era antiwar ditty. Album closer “Suicide and/or Packed with Satan” features an equilibrium-disturbing whine that’s absolute murder on a hungover morning.”
-Sarah Zachrich SPLENIDEZINE.COM
“The band plays, abrasive, non-commercial music that recalls the glory days of SST records in its combination of sludgy guitar riffage and avante-weird attitude…the overall effect is oddly menacing.”
- Max Price Greenville, SC Metro Beat
