DOWNLOAD: Deep Earth
By Jon Graef in Arts & Entertainment on Mar 22, 2011 6:20PM
The underground psychedelic resurgence in Chicago’s music scene keeps on getting stronger and stronger with each new release. Local music community, prepare to navigate the subterranean sounds of Deep Earth.
With their brand new cassette, House of Mighty, the Chicago trio hits the sweet spot between two different sounds prominent in Chicago's experimental music scene: The cinematic, symphonic sounds of prog-leaning Chicago acts like Ga’an and Gatekeeper, and a more subdued version of the driving, Kraut-nodding rock in Windy City groups like Verma and Cave.
Basically, if you love 10-minute excursions into the musical abyss of instrumental rock, you'll go koo-koo bananas for this four-track, limited edition set released on Minneapolis’s fantastic experimental Moon Glyph label. For those of you without a cassette player, the label's been generous enough to share an MP3 for Mighty cut "Speak My Language."
"Language" is one of the more concise tracks on the cassette, and leans more toward the synth-side of the band's overall sound. The opening squalls of feedback, pulse-pounding beats and repetitive, muted guitars call to mind the beginning of Pink Floyd's "Run Like Hell." Only instead of releasing the immediate tension with echo-heavy arena-rock bombast, Deep Earth pile it on, adding dense textures like ominous vocals and distantly fuzzed-out soundcapes. The cumulative effect is a creepy, but brutally effective blend of new wave, noise, prog and psych -- hell, there even might be some disco in there, albeit of a muted sort. Whatever it is, "Language" makes for a massive heavy mental thunderstorm on the minds of the listener.
We know it's only Tuesday, but it's never to early for a music-induced freak-out, is it? Right? At any rate, snatch this up before Altered Zones posts about it. Buy the limited edition 150-run cassette here, or download "Speak My Language" below.