Customer Reviews

The Texas-Jerusalem Crossroads

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Why I signed LIFT TO EXPERIENCE......... No-one else would touch them. A double concept album about the end of the world with Texas as the promised land by a trio from Denton? Apparently, this wasn't considered marketable. Ha! When I heard the demos, I was staggered by the swagger, the effortlessness of it all. Surely they couldn't really be as cool as they sounded? A plane trip to Texas was next on the agenda, and my fate was sealed. A thunderous show(literally inside a tent during one of the worst storms in Texas history) convinced me that I had to put this record out, but also that I was undoubtedly in the presence of genius. We signed the band within 2 minutes of them walking off stage. Young, incredibly charismatic, they looked like the coolest bunch since early Birthday Party. I knew I was onto a winner. With songs of mostly 10 or more minutes in length, I thought convincing press and public alike to their greatness may prove tricky, but I was wrong. Certainly with the record less than a month old, the press reactions have been stunning( see Uncut July issue Album Of The Month to see what I mean ) and now the band are here on tour, and selling shows out across the country, I am hugely proud to be able to bring one of the most important american artists of the last 25 years to the attention of a european audience. I should add as a final anecdote that while I was mixing the album, my recording studio was going bust, and with all the gear being sold off around me as I mixed, I still managed to find it the most exciting and thrilling music to be part of...when I should have been drowning my sorrows of impending liquidation, I was dancing around the room at 4am with tracks like Into The Storm and Crippled Wings at intense volume blaring out the speakers with a wide wide grin on my face. And I still have that feeling when I put the record on now! I hope you will feel the same.

Truly new and unique music if often hard to come by, but this CD is filled with fuzz guitars and depth of lyrical content rarely seen on today's records. The album is written by three Texas boys whose fathers were Baptist ministers. Oh, the conflict of living in the Bible belt. This CD is full of lyrics about Texas, God, and the apocalypse. If they were going for depth I think they accomplished it, and if they were going for satire I think they accomplished that too. I guess I can leave that up to your interpretation.

A lone fluttering, fuzzy guitar generates much of the bands energy and slightly haunting melody while the bass and drums come to hold it down from direct ascension into heaven. The two disc set combines to make a story and possibly generates a new sub-genre of music altogether. These Are the Days and Falling from Cloud 9 represent the most "songish" songs on the album, while many of the songs stop for interludes and story-telling. This is a work in whole (most tracks are over 6 minutes) and must be listened to and respected as such. It's a must listen for innovative music lovers. Similar sounding bands would be The Autumns, The Trash Can Sumatra's, and the White Stripes. While a similar band conceptually would be Mercury Rev.

I was turned on to Lift to Experience in a rather interesting way... Josh (vocals/guitar) had just recently moved in next door when I asked to buy a copy of his record after hearing a few songs I had pirated from the Internet. He gladly gave me a copy and told me about it being a concept record where the world comes to an end and Texas becomes the Promised Land. I took it home with great interest and it was nothing short of amazing.
The record is much like a painting, with a meaning and a story behind it; a quality that music today has lost. It is the CD in my stereo most often, and rightfully so!

Wonderful wonderful music. It's amazing that this CD has only one guitar track. It's so full. The sound surrounds you as you listen to it. Josh Petterson's vocals are reminiscent of Johnny Cash and the music is something that you might find on a My Bloody Valentine or Lassie Foundation record. Set under the Texas-is-the-promised-land Motiff...you've got a winner.

Let me encourage you to buy this CD.

If you do buy it, and you don't like it, shoot, drop me an email at sbarrett00@yahoo.com and I'll buy it back from you...

At first glance, it would be easy to underestimate this 2-disc set. It doesn't look like it would be much more than drinkin', losin' my woman, and more drinkin' rockabilly from the oddly washed out picture on the front. But mom taught me not to judge books (or CDs) by their cover, and with The Texas/Jerusalem Crossroads, mom was right.

What impresses me the most is the fearlessness of the performance. These are men who are addressing the issues of their own belief--about themselves, apocalypse, God, and Texas with the sort of openness reserved for private therapy sessions. It is a complete baring of the spirit, a willingness to make themselves vulnerable to an extreme degree that gives these songs their power. Without this total honesty and frankness, each song would come off as a parody of itself rather than the expression of faith, longing, and doubt that it is.

Beyond that, these gentlemen are gifted musicians, and Josh Pearson is talented both as a lyricist and as a performer.

This is a notable work that should be experienced by everyone, and experiencing it means giving it full attention. No listening in the car, no playing it while talking to friends or making dinner. It needs your full concentration for you to absorb the message and the raw emotional power behind the message.

I love this CD completely, and recommend it without hesitation to anyone who craves a sonic masterpiece, lyrics that have actual impact, and the raw, unabashed honesty so rare in most artists today.

Put aside your own anti organised religion beliefs for one moment. Just as Steve Earle was lambasted by the right-wing for his song 'John Walker's Blues', Lift To Experience have been attacked by certain parts of the mainly liberal and supposedly open-minded rock fraternity for their religiously conceptual "Texas-Jerusalem Crossroads". Theistic or not, the content of this album has the ability to appeal to all. The emotions that the band portray via the dense and longing soundscapes and lyrics that encompass love, war, fear and death can be valued by all and narrate a vivid and often terrifying story. If anything this album will make you forget the modern bigoted views of many right-wing christians and maybe appreciate the worthy and intense feeling that Christianity was based upon. What do I know anyway? This album uncovers feelings in me that no other album can bring forth. Genius. If they don't do another album then I'll cry.

I can't believe this band isn't huge. It's impossible to listen to this music and be a cynic. The first track draws you in, and never loosens its grip. Lift to Experience is the greatest band to come from TEXAS in a very long time. They are not country, neither should they be compared to anyone. The guitar is EQ'd perfectly. The bass lines hover in a trance just underneath the wall of guitar perfection. Their Drummer Andy Young should be compared to likes of Keith Moon or John Bonham. The energy of the TEXAS JERUSALEM CROSSROADS flows with passion and realism. By the end of the album, one wants to leave to find the train that's "a commin." These songs will move you.
"WE SHALL BE FREE! WE SHALL BE FREE! WE SHALL BE FREE!"

OK, 2002 just started, but if you missed this one in 2001, you missed the best music of the year.This music is a blow in the stomach. It's easy to compare it with Jim Morrison, Birthday Party, The Gun Club, John Lee Hooker a.o., but it is different.
No music had such an impact on me since Nusrat Fateh Ali Kahn.
Sometime you will listen again to check if it can make the same impact again..........and it does. After this there can be only silence....... (Best listen with headphone on and eyes closed)

After 4 years of waiting, still no sign of any new material. Wher are they now? I read on Bellaunion.com in 2003 they were working on a new album and Josh was going to release a solo album. Well, that was 2 years ago, so I am guessing these guys have broken up.

Yes, it has elements of Jeff Buckley. Not intentionally. Joshes voice is just similar sounding. Beautiful in fact, but without the range of Jeff. And yes the guitar sound could be similar to My bloody valentine. But there is no intentional plagarism here.

Just beautifully delivered music. Perfect infact. Don't let the religious content of the music put you off, I didn't

It is beautiful. Buy it.

Oh by the way, ignore the amazon desription up top. It has nothing to do with this band or or this release.

I really don't write reviews often. This is only my second. But I've been waiting to chime in and say this is one of my favorite bands/album. And I know you've heard that line many times reading customer reviews. please stick with me for a second.

I love music. Whether its shoe-gaze like lush or slowdive. Whether its post-rock like slint or rodan. Whether its math rock such as polvo or june of 44. Whether its emo like american football or saetia. Whether its bands like echo & the bunnymen or the minutemen, or mission of burma. Whether its the pixies, the cure, or the smiths. or lo-fi rock like Pavement or GBV. Whether its the stone roses, or steve reich, or animal collective. or bands like the cocteau twins or bauhaus. Whether its IDM, or post-hardcore, or free-jazz, or alt-country. I love finding new and interesting music, and this is a jem in terms of music with a deepness and open-ness that is hard to find. THIS HAS GOT THE RAW emotional strength of bands like red house painters, dead can dance, and over the rhine. I know I sound like a music geek/loser with all the name dropping. But what can I say, I really like music and I really like this album.

so, highly recommended for anyone with an open ear, and genuine love for music.