Customer Reviews

Tentacles

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Not only is the band super nice, this band has created their own sound in the indie community and it's very distinct. Try them out, a very interesting take of modern rock. Dust and Andrew for top songs.

After the amazing amount of buzz brought on by their debut EP a lot of bands might dissappoint. If anything, Crystal Antlers are even better. The production is cleaner while still assaulting you with great rhythms and walls of noise.

I love this record, Its blues and prog rock influences make for a very unique sound.

If you listened to their ep and/or seen their live show, you will be very impressed with this release. They were such a great live band that I was pleasantly surprised that the recordings capture the mystic mojo. Well worth the money

A large portion of the mid-section of this album is very mediocre material that perhaps may have - or should have - required additional time for development. After the fourth song the album goes off track. I think the group have some decent promise, but perhaps selecting the best four or five tracks from this and issued as another very good EP would have been the best and more appropriate move for the group rather than stretching thin material for a full-length album that just wasn't there.

Long Beach noise, garage and organ fueled soul sextet Crystal Antlers pack an insane amount of freak filled energy onto their debut album "Tentacles." Equal parts Sonic Youth and The Animals, the Antlers offer a take no prisoners hold through this album. Coming in at an abbreviated 40 minutes, "Tentacles" offers a clamorous listening experience featuring a wide dosage of ramshackle tunes. It's not that these tunes are flimsy, it's just seems like they're held together by junkyard cinder blocks.

Opener "Painless Sleep" is anything but, featuring a monotonous organ intro that generally gives way to a shouted vocal. While "Dust" sounds like what might had happened if one of the Allmans was electrocuted during the middle of the live cut of "Whipping Post." It isn't until "Andrew" that things mellow out somewhat and we get a song that Eric Burden could have sung. Things get skronky afterwards, and it seems that Crystal Antlers forgot to pack the tunes on the next couple of tracks. It's not until "Glacier" that the band finds it's footing again.

As the album dissolves into experimentalism, it's hard not to skip ahead to find something resembling a melody. "Swollen Sky" redeems things a bit but not for long as closer "Several Tongues" takes things into the abyss. Had "Tentacles" been whittled down to an EP, it would have been a better listen without the extraneous filler that preoccupies a large part of the album.