Anti-Quark
"The Mask"
By Kevin McGoldrick, SDAM.com Staff Writer
©Copyright
2024
SDAM.com/Kevin McGoldrick
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I was always one of those musically deranged kids who were fascinated
by a bands ability to stay on the
chord of C for 11 minutes straight. Seemed so counter-intuitive,
counter to all the melodies we grew up
listening to. Who could possibly be patient enough to not cave into
the prescribed ABA song structure?
Of course, in hindsight I now realize that these rock 'n roll
demi-gods of mine really only proved one
thing, that there is a fine line between an absent mind, a genius and
a drug addict. Whether Anti-Quark
are sober innovators or chemically induced replicators, I have yet to
see, but I love this stuff still.
Musically founded on the euro-psychedelic mental gymnastics of
Spacemen 3 and Komputer, it is mechanical
computer music in the way that German silent films portrayed the
downtrodden mechanized masses (the art-rock
snob in action). Their pop sensibilities definitely heavy with
Depeche Mode and the master of electronic
pop Jimi Tenor in his G clef meanderings. Stylistically the
Bubblegum Japanatronic of Pizzicato Five
comes to mind, but in the much darker vein of the Juno Reactor and
the "Bible of Dreams" kind. And at
moments there is a lapse into the world of Lush pop and Prolapse.
While musically this album's patience manifests itself into a
beautiful monotony, their lyrics break
free from boundary completely. A free form investigation across the
board even venturing into 9/11
with a song called "The Atta" from a hijackers perspective with a
rather evocative chorus of "They
did it for Allah!" This is the band for the anti-generation
generation, for all those who have ever
been tear gassed, for the anti-corporate movement, and
anti-globalization sentiment, for all those
lamenting in too many -ments this is for you.
Lyrically grounded and musically a brave bunch the Anti-Quark blaze
new ground in a not so receptive
hometown. This is a band that doesn't care to be socialized, like
you and me; they simply do their
own thing and do it well. If you like to Take Drugs to Make Music
to Take Drugs To then "The Mask" is
exactly what the doctor ordered. If you are wanting something
different and more challenging than the
regurgitated diet of garage rock and RRRiiiottt, then try the Anti-Quark. This
is an urban wedding,
not the petty PB deadening, but NY cool. You will not be disappointed.
Find out more about Anti-Quark
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An infinitesimal droning, this is the Touch and Go of electronic kids
and their anarchistic warnings.
Falling backward in time, reading backward in kind, this is a fresh
of breath air. Inside the space-time
continuum components are exponentially raised by the power of 10.
Not the SD scene and the punk rock
glean, but the dark matter found, the unseen. In all your real day
to day concerns always lie the ones
who like to watch the birds and then those who like to point out that
the birds are nothing but the pseudo
philo-etch a sketch of an imaginary world. The Anti-Quark is of this
Sketch a Etch variety.