Monday, February 25, 2008

The Jesus and the Mary Chain Gangs of New York


Guitar feedback is back in style, but the question remains: did it ever really go out of style? A perfect garnish to any jam session, loud-primal-ear-wrenching-feedback is a saving grace to rock music. Take the most recent Magnetic Fields album Distortion exemplifies this trend. Complete with beautiful cascades of white noise and soaring feedback this album pulverizes from start to finish, but in a sleek elegant and refined way. Where does front man, Steven Merrit, get this idea from? Well, funny you ask! Merrit is not bashful to cite Jesus Mary Chain's Pyschocandy as an inspiration to his new album. This album paved the road for all the great noise rock outfits of our generation. Drawing their inspiration from the seminal Velvet Underground, JMC use artful orchestration to transmit their raw loud, uncaged approach to rock and roll. Using primarily surf-inspired melodies, JMC's melodic backbone perpetuates each song, which is embellished by an unholy amount of feedback.
Chew on this Download 1985's Pyschocandy by The Jesus and Mary Chain.

2 comments:

NNTL said...

FEEDBACK OWNS! Those vids or sweet too.

liberace sequence said...

i complete agree. or do i? you will know when the time is right, weary traveler.