Megaheroes

One of the most influential bands in noise music is back, with a brand new album titled Earthly Delights. The duo of Brian Chippendale and Brian Gibson from Providence, Rhode Island has gained a cult-like following since forming Lightning Bolt back in 1994. They first met in design school and like two magnets they were instantly drawn together, sparking a toxic mix of musical reactions. Their abrasive, mind-carving style has seen them become heroes of the musical underground, pioneering the ultimate DIY approach to music and making messy, poorly recorded music an acceptable craft among modern youth. Although they weren’t the first to make their particular style of music, they were arguably the first band to gain an international cult following. Zach Hill and No Age are among many bands across the world who cite Lightning Bolt as a major influence, both for their unconventional approach to making noise and for their “guerilla” live shows, which see the band play on the floor surrounded by their fans, instead of on the stage. Even bands here in New Zealand have been influenced by Lightning Bolt, including Golden Axe, Butt Simpson and TFF.

Earthly Delights is due for release on October 13 and comes as a three-sided gatefold LP, with outstanding cover art (see below). In a myspace blog post late last week the band joked, “Destined to be leaked onto the internet by……hmmm. Take a guess, maybe August 31? Early September? You tell me. But I think the art of this one is good. Get the LP!”

The first song to be heard from the album is a seven-minute jam titled ‘Colossus’, and it gives fans a minor idea as to where the band is taking their sound. It opens with a slow, whining, psychedelic groove, before breaking into a bass-heavy rock riff that distorts and runs repetitively to around the four minute mark. Chippendale’s spastic drum rolls then take charge and the song becomes a loud kaleidoscopic mess, wandering through a noisy array of flesh-peeling cymbals and distortion pedals, giving the song Lightning Bolt’s customary improvisational quality. The song can easily be broken into two parts, the first driven by Gibson’s bass and the second driven by Chippendale’s colossal drum beats; there’s even vocals hidden underneath everything, that can be heard briefly during the transition between the two parts of the song. If anything, it shows that both Chippendale and Gibson can engage one another without being too overbearing on each other’s craft. Their individual instrumental parts sound like they were constructed in separate realms, being brought together later as part of the duo’s unique song writing process. It’s an epic track that signals Lightning Bolt’s return and is a delight for fans who have been waiting patiently since Lightning Bolt’s last release in 2005, an improvisational album titled Hypermagic Mountain. 

Lightning Bolt- Colossus: MP3

Lightning Bolt- Myspace

Posted by Nick Fulton under U.S.A
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