Artist Telepathic Liberation Army
Album Phase One
Released 2010
Label Don’t Stop Believin’
It’s been said that if you really connect with the dirty, visceral element of music, and consider yourself an aural addict of any caliber, listening to Howlin’ Wolf is like a trip mixed with mind-blowing sex, and once you take off the headphones, you’ll probably need a nap.
On their debut record Phase One, four-piece Seattle rockers Telepathic Liberation Army unmistakably mine that spectrum of the art. Not noise or art rock, and far removed from the times when “queer-core” would suffice in describing the music of a band (three of the four members in the all-female band are queer, and that’s the one and only time in this review where we will act like that even matters), this album is a daring, dirty, glorious monument to rock that makes you feel more than think, squarely in the tradition of bands making records solely for the experience of being able to play them live.
Feisty, pissed-off-but-still-having-fun vocalist Lisa Orth finds the absolute perfect timbre for the trippy, punk-affected cuts on this record. Witness the dynamic interplay on “Division.” Through the loose, grungy drumming courtesy of Stacy Peck (Kellie Payne is the live percussionist), and over an array of tastefully modulated riffs from Alice Wilder, Orth spits her verses, shouts her bridge, and even adds what can only be described as an animalistic yelp for good measure. The sparse dirge “Weird Wing” finds the vocalist at her bratty best, almost baiting us to get up and, if not dance, lick the sweat off the person closest to us.
The choppy, jolting “New Song Junior,” featuring more of Wilder’s arresting riffing, this time melodically doubling Orth (still spitting, definitely still bratty) at times, allows us more aural space to enjoy the almost-percussive basslines of Michelle Nolan, who is undoubtedly what holds the beautiful mess of these tracks together.
While Orth’s sonic signature is all over Telepathic Liberation Army – the songcraft is clearly structured around her specific, pissy-punky-somewhat-funky talents – guitarist Wilder and her seemingly endless repertoire of tuneful, tasteful, creative, and unequivocally weird six-string work is what stands out the most on this debut record. Her parts are absolutely fantastic, especially because she doesn’t really try to floor you; she just does.
Phase One is a rebellious, unapologetic record from a band with a fully-formed sound, unified purpose, and the courage to make something different and odd, but not merely for the sake of doing so. Like what truly makes a great LP, this record almost seems like one long, trippy song, one you can’t wait to hear live.
Tags: cds, telepathic liberation army
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