Northern Liberties :: Ghost Mind Electricity (Badmaster Records)
By Jay Snyder September 26, 2007
I have been following Northern Liberties for a few years now. I have reviewed their two previous full-lengths as well as a 7” for Daredevil and I’m always chomping at the bit to see what this unique, Philly three-piece come up with next.
“Ghost Mind Electricity” is their brand new record and continues to expand on the mixture of psychedelic rock, post-punk, grunge and general drum n’ bass debauchery that these guys make so irresistible. The band have stripped things down a lot on this new record and have removed a lot of the effects on the vocals and in other places as well. In addition they have also trimmed the record length to a succinct 12 songs. In the past the band often crossed over into the 15+ song territory.
While some of these changes were a bit unexpected as soon as the offbeat punk meets rock n’ roll of opener “Controlled by Voices from Beyond” comes rolling through my speakers I expelled all of my possible doubts. The song begins with a brief sample and kicks into an up-tempo jam that features busy bass/drum interplay that locks into an unwavering groove that allows Justin Duerr to spit out his always engaging lyrics with his usual style of emotive singing. There’s a punk foundation in this track but there are straight-up rock and roll elements as well giving the song a varied, multi-dimensional strength that is one of Northern Liberties many unique qualities.
“Children of the Unholy Cross” sounds a bit more in line with the material on their last album “Secret Revolution” as it mixes a dash of grunge, post-punk and Butthole Surfers style strangeness. The track has an unstoppable bass riff that rides over top the wall of intense drumming that features some quick and deadly fills that combines in double-time with Justin’s additional percussion. This song has a great verse and strong chorus that adds in some nervous, shouting vocals. Things even build to an almost metallic intensity later in the track with the drum and bass attack getting heavy enough to rival something like Big Business.
The band also shows that they still like working with lush, clean textures too, like on their previous albums. “Among the Unborn” has a dark and haunting intro that features clean bass guitar that mingles softly with the light singing vocals. The mood seems as if it will stay that way but the band again hit you with distortion and a wall of drums and various percussion that helps kick start the song into a number of far more rocked-out moments.
These guys still haven’t shed all of their slight, stoner tendencies either as “Psionic Sorcery Song” has a bass tone that is seeping with classic rock influence and delivers some of the band’s grooviest riffs to date. I feel the Butthole Surfers influences very present on this track and it is nice to see the band incorporating that influence like they did in the past but within the context of highly evolved song-writing. The vocals are also powerful and filled with hooks that will have the lyrics stuck in your head permanently. The rest of the record finds the band exploring all of their different personalities to great effect.
They show their love for ear-damaged, rocking punk with tracks like “Justice for Tommy” and “Dead Deer House”. I will go as far as calling “Dead Deer House” the “Love Dove” of this album as the track is short and to the point with catchy, explosive punk leading the charge with the subtle influence of stoner blues lingering in the distance. The song operates on an incredibly simplistic yet off-kilter lyrical approach that makes the lines short and punchy with hooks so catchy that they are almost deadly. I never thought I’d have a chorus that consists of, “Dead Deer House, Dead Deer House, O’ Dead Deer House” cemented into my cranium but with Northern Liberties I always expect the unexpected. The band continues to excel all over the rest of the tracks as well, firing on all cylinders to consistently assault your senses in ways that you didn’t expect.
The beautiful “Changing” has great lyrics sung with a ton of heart and emotion as the music works in the context of their patented light/heavy aesthetic with the percussion/drumming being pretty much heavy throughout but the bass remaining clean for half of the track. The second half is a nice contrast between the first because it is basically the first part’s louder, rock n’ roll brother.
“Silver Fire” is a total freak-out and sounds about one second away from collapsing even when the song wanders into epic clean sections. The final stretch of this song has a galloping metal influence that knocked my socks off with some fucking wild, 70’s psych bass soloing. This is one of the best songs that Northern Liberties has ever penned and even if the build up wasn’t worth it (which it most certainly was) the end of this track completely took my breath away.
“E.G.G.” is an upbeat rock and roll song that also draws in a certain bit of pop punk influence mixed with stoner weirdness and some acid incuded freak-outs. Its got the bouncy clean bass guitar of “Love Dove” from the previous album in its first half but then goes into a psychotic, noise burst that will really mess with some heads. I’m talking really noisy stuff, as weird as anything out there including Butthole Surfers and the Boredoms. They couldn’t have closed things off any better with “Nation Anthem (For Birds)” which is a generally quieter affair with a bombastic ending that sees the band getting almost sludge-y as they descend into distortion and noise in the final stretch.
This is a fantastic record through and through. I have yet to be disappointed by anything that these guys have done yet and “Ghost Mind Electricity” is an album boasting some of their best work thus far. I find everything that they have done to be an essential listen if you are in the mood for something out of the ordinary that combines a melting pot of influences both classic and modern. This is seriously some forward thinking music.
Vocalist Justin Duerr also provides his unusual artistic style all over this lavishly designed digipak. His art style is highly unique and helps to enhance the atmosphere of every Northern Liberties release and just as the music continues to reach higher levels so does the art that he graces each package with. This is a great record and I can’t wait to see where they can possibly go from here. Only 1200 of these babies were pressed, so get one now!