Avondale Airforce

Album review

S/T

added: 12 Feb 2013 // release date: 10 Jan 2013 // label: Beast Records
reviewer: Claudia A

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Ladies and Gentlemen, you are about to experience some sonic turbulence. Please fasten your seat belts now!

Avondale Airforce is a psychedelic/improvisational/experimental outfit based in the Hudson Valley region, New York State. The rock duo is comprised of guitarist-vocalists Stanton Warren (Venture Lift) and Peter Aaron (Chrome Cranks).

Avondale�s current album �S/T� boasts a trippy sleeve design by James Marsh, however, if the sleeve design is trippy than the music surely is �out there�!
Most of the album�s ten tracks sound as if they were whipped up partly in Warhol�s Factory and aboard a space ship. It exudes an unmistakable �let�s play and see what happens� aura, but there�s a modern, urban industrial feel to it, too.

Opener �Lift Off� sets the tone, and gives the impression that the likes of early Velvet Underground, Amon Düul, Pink Floyd and Tangerine Dream held a firm grasp over the album�s creative process.
It�s all incredibly free-form and above all, very guitar-driven (but not as we know it!). Oh, perhaps I should also mention that this is a 12� vinyl I�m reviewing here, so it has a Side A and a Side B to it.

Upon first listen I wouldn�t call the music instantly accessible, and it might help if one were in an altered state of mind while approaching what the duo have to offer. Try a few more spins on your turntable however, and it starts to grow on you.

Using a Fender Stratocaster, Hagstrom e-guitars, tremolo, distortion and reverb effects, a Fender Twin Reverb, Jaguar & Memphis slide guitars, drums and percussion sampler, vocals, and a big muff and wah treated Gibson L6S, you might get an idea as to the complexity and texture of the arrangements. Indeed, it�s a seemingly never-ending kaleidoscope of instruments and sounds we are confronted with.

The vocals are not always easy to make out, except on the surprisingly mellow and melodious �Come To Terms� (Side B), when Stanton Warren sings �I am simply here because I am�� It all comes across as rather transcendental, and sums up the vibe of the album.
Instrumental track �Aztec Astronaut� (Oaxaca) bears a strong nod to Hawkwind and might well transport you into a pleasant trance, while the contrasting �Cicle Line� (also instrumental) is a collision of cool and energetic groove beats.

Avondale Airforce�s �S/T� is one of the most unconventional and unusual albums I�ve come across in quite some time, like a prog-sonic space concert. Which makes it all the more interesting.

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