Rad 14 song album of spazzy basement art-punk from this Philly drums/bass/vox trio that’s tied up in the intriguing urban-underground Worldeater collective, who also cranked out the fucking stellar Humanasaur CD-R reviewed elsewhere on this list. Northern Liberties are sort of a heavier, modern day version of The Butthole Surfers, a psychedelic punk assault slinging metaphysical vibes all over their album, but with a spare drums/bass/vocals n’ effects lineup and apparent love for black mascara post-punk that puts these jams somewhere between the dissonant riff-heavy freakouts of Lightning Bolt, sullen Cure/Joy Division gloom, melodic hardcore marches, and spacey, psychedelic angular avant-punk that touches on USAISAMONSTER, folk, and cosmic effects tripouts, bound together with bizarre feverdream lyrics and really cool zoned out vocals. Yep, a cool, weird mix of Load Records damage, the Butthole Surfers acid visions, and pop punk.

I suppose these folks would be full-scale extreme–the lyrics certainly fit–but it seems they have more delicate constitutions. That’s not bad, actually, as these stripped-down songs are perhaps even more menacing in this context. One of the more intriguing bands I’ve heard in a while.

Fuzzy bass-drums-vocs music that seems heavy but sounds more like Pavement than say Nirvana or the Melvins, cuz of the doubled up melodic vocals. Very early 90’s dirty indie-rock, reminds me a lot of Charles Brown Superstar or Swirlies or other indie-rock bands that put distortion pedals on the bass and leaned heavily on melody. Good stuff, if you like this definitely check out Charles Brown Superstar. Moments of this could be lumped in with Comets on Fire.

1) simple bass melody, idie rock’ish vocs a la pavement, grungy distorto moments but pop is maintained
2) noise intro followed by big tribal drum onslaught and fuzz-bass
3) cool echo bass line, very pop vocals
4) driving fuzz bass fun
5) tribal intro turns into melodic, midpaced, reflective
6) heavy psyche rock, grunge tone, less melody and more heuvos, echoey vocs set tone
7) reflective indie rock wth acoustic intro and ÒheavyÓ later part
8) up-paced driving pogoÕing rock, tribal out-tro
9) feedback intro, good driving rockin
10) spacey feedback/efx intro turns upbeat rock
11) acoustic instruments in intro, same rockin
12) different beat, tribal, devolves into indie rock melodic vocs
13) a bit doomier, darker
14) slow bass arpeggio, heavy waltzy, psyche grungy
15) ignore, 6 seconds
16) quiet space intro to wild spazz psyche rock a la Comets on Fire, goes back to spaciness here and there
17) looped sound collage with beat
18) kinda gothy with chorused bass and slow echoey pace
19) brief acoustic instrumental

— Reviewed by “your imaginary friend”, from the online music archive at KZSU 90.1 FM, Stanford Ca.

Northern Liberties start out their “Midnight Train To The Dogfood Factory” is a slow way, but it seems as if the band will become increasingly energetic with each passing second. This occurs about halfway through the track, something that allows Northern Liberties to tie a brooding instrumentation with a chaotic output. Northern Liberties cannot be easily lumped into a specific sound, as what could be given them as a title does not related perfectly to any existing genre. They are chaotic, a harder, more noisy version of Jane’s Addiction, and they craft this sound into something that is simultaneously intense and thought-provoking. The inclusion of tribal drumming during tracks like “Angels With Broken Glass Teeth” provides the perfect canvas which the bass can add onto and the guitar can jump off from. The speed which Northern Liberties can achieve is impressive and seems natural. The biggest problem with a number of harder bands than Northern Liberties is the fact that their speed seems to be crafted largely by computers, that no human could conceivably create the music on the disc. This is not the case with Northern Liberties, and this is why they succeed. While some individuals may be apt to put their music closer to a post-punk style (and this is a criticism that has a lot of merit), the music that Northern Liberties put forth on “Secret Revolution” and on tracks like “Mold” have a vitality that few post-punk tracks could achieve. The swirling eddys of guitar and drums that come to bear in a number of tracks on this album are perhaps the strongest outputs of Northern Liberties on this disc; the war dance of the disaffected and revolutionaries that will occur after listening to this CD will be prestigious, at least. The band gets into their full glory with “Featureless Observer”, a track that continues the chaos and the Strike Anywhere vocals with guitars shredding that would be perfect back in any hair metal album. Northern Liberties are scavengers, using so many different scraps of influence to come up with something completely new and detached from anything else before it. I think that anyone would be able to find something that they liked about Northern Liberties; all one needs to do is give “Secret Revolution” a few listens and chances are good that individuals will be hooked from then on. Give it a go, for sure.
Top Tracks: Lonely, Featureless Observer
Rating: 7.5/10
— James McQuiston, Neufutur webzine

This band doesn’t color inside the lines. They are going to be tough to categorize. I’m going to go with something like experimental post-punk or maybe experimental post hardcore. There are no guitars. They use vocals, drum, percussion, and bass. The vocals are very offbeat and oddball sounding. They are a-typical for punk. They use a lot of echo, makes it almost sound like there are more than one person singing. The bass plays leads. The lyrical content is a bit vague (or maybe abstract) in a poetic sort of way that begs individual translation. The art-core crowds will like this, as will the smarter punks, and maybe even some of the screamo kids. Its probably not going to be everybody’s idea of a good time simply because it lacks a frame of reference. How do we take these guys? Who’s the target audience? What are you going for? I’m left with a lot of questions. The band sounds great. The talent is obvious. The hard work is evident. Why won’t people get it, probably because that would take an effort. If you try, its not difficult at all to find a lot of valuable listening in this CD.

Northern Liberties bypass all the heavy handed mixing and remastering that’s going on today, and deliver a brasher edged thrashy punk style with their Secret Revolution release. Made up of Justin Duerr (voice, percussion, art), K. (bass) and Marc Duerr (drums & cymbals Ð though I find it silly to list cymbals, really) they keep a very down trodden sound that works for them most of the time. Occasionally they’ll get a little over the top with it, but it’s a fun kind of over the top Ð a big fuck off to the music industry itself. Drums in particular are very hard edged, well played and recorded high throughout. Marc’s an accomplished drummer with an all-over-the-place attitude to his art. This is apparent from the beginning, especially on the drum happy Angels with Broken Glass Teeth. I love the trippy bass in Mold, combined with the drums they make for a solid mix alone. Here the vocals are half-assed done, with reasoning towards the basement style and industry flipping. Lonely is interesting in its ballad attitude slammed against angry vocals. Auto Pilot is a melodic thrash piece done with style, though it will get a bit messy, vocals floating away from the rest of the pack. An interesting piece though. Beyond Beyond is deep down rumbling track, great basswork by K. As we move through the half way point of Secret Revolution the album gets a bit thrashier and unkempt. Don’t Kill My Sister for example is crude-level Ahab Rex[1] and Alice Donut[2]. Monument even has similar guitar riffage to stoner rock, surprising me in its Blind Dog[3] stylings. The drumwork of Mainframe once again shows the prowess of Marc Duerr, with K. joining him to create a heavy-handed rhythmic wall of sound. Nicely done. Latter tracks on the album, especially those after the listed fourteen (there’s a couple bonus tracks thrown on here for good measure), are done very sloppily and probably ended up on here as an afterthought it seems. Northern Liberties have some interesting work here on Secret Revolution. Thrashy but occasionally melodic to add a bit of a twist, a nod to the basement level of music creation without the overly done mastering coming from the big boys of the industry. Strays occasionally a bit too far into this, sometimes, as Northern Liberties look for that happy medium. Excellent drumming and bass, a bit boorish with the vocals. But otherwise it’s lots of fun, noisy and boorish, but never cumbersome.
By Marcus Pan

Northern Liberties – Secret Revolution (released 2005) Worldeater Records – Punk and metal experimental group Northern Liberties are back with a smashing album, that in my mind is perhaps the band’s best effort to date. “Secret Revolution” features the usual mix of bass, percussion and vocals, with added effects to make every track different. Additionally the lyrics are a bit more clarified and less ambiguous, something I found hard to follow in previous releases. Now I can see that the band is a bit of socially aware, a bit of politically charged and a bit romantic. The romantic part being that they apply themselves differently that they do with the political and social stuff, Northern Liberties actually offer somethign less motivating and more inviting. Songs like “Love Dove” and “Monument”, with their impassioned prayer for the subject, show the lighter side of the band. Other tracks, like “Midnight Train To The Dogfood Factory”, “Mainframe” and “Autopilot” feature Northern Liberties social awareness and motivational side of the sound and message. Incidentally, these are also some of the faster paced songs on the album, which only helps underscore the message the band is delivering on each one. Taken as a whole, the album doesn’t come across as an experimental album at all, it’s very well structured and in tune with a tight message that presumably is what the band was looking to spell out for listeners. I’ve been enamored with previous efforts from Northern Liberties, although I haven’t always understood their motivation; on “Secret Revolution” however, I think I am finally seeing the light. This release is groundbreaking for me to understand the inspiration of the band and I’m certain it will open the doors of the mind for others as well. A great release, that also features some hidden and hard to find material from the band. “Secret Revolution” is for fans of underground social change music, punk metal and well thought out experimental, Northern Liberties latest release is not to be missed.
-MG

Northern Liberties is something of a dark horse in the Philadelphia music scene. Led by artist/poet/writer/drummer/quasi-mystic Justin Duerr, the band draws comparisons to local legends Ink & Dagger and West Philly mainstays, Stinking Lizaveta, but hasn’t achieved the same widespread recognition as these groups. It’s possible that this plays a part in the title of Northern Liberties’ new album, Secret Revolution, but then again maybe not. One never knows. The band is as strong, as menacing, and as idiosyncratic as ever. Plowing through nineteen songs in about an hour can be a lot to take in, but by and large it’s worth the time. The sound of two drummers and a distorted bass is primitive and abrasive, to great effect. Brothers, Justin and Marc Duerr lock in to create rumbling, hi-hat and tom-driven jungle grooves that accent on odd beats and fill at unexpected times. Over top of this is Justin Duerr belting out his poetry in an intense snarl. The music works because of its uncompromising individuality. Northern Liberties can be described as punk, alt-rock, and/or experimental, but each of these genres has specific inherent characteristics that Duerr uses and discards as needed. A song like “Midnight Train to the Dogfood Factory” resembles the Talking Heads with its pounding drums and free association lyrics, while the drone and acoustic guitar on “Beyond Beyond” brings to mind early Leonard Cohen. The lyrics succeed despite their revolving around desperation, alienation and poetic flights of fancy. These themes and style have not only been done to death, but often executed poorly enough to almost come off as parody. However, the strong sense of Duerr’s personality dominates the work and keeps it from coming off as derivative or mediocre. The combination of dark poetry and intense, bleak music creates many striking moments, especially in the anti-war martyrdom of the song, “Don’t Kill My Sister.” The band raises hell with driving basslines and especially thunderous drums. Cymbal crashes sound like explosions as Duerr repeats “Rain them down/Rain them down on me.” As the cacophony dies down, he pleads “Don’t kill my sister/with your bombs and your guns/don’t take away the moonlight.” In many ways, this sums up Secret Revolution. The music, while aggressive and defiant, isn’t quite metal, punk, or even avant-garde noise. It is, however, very effective. Similarly, war has become a hot subject in just about every genre of music, but few songwriters can capture their feelings on the subject as poignantly as this, or in so few lines.
By: Jack Firneno from Wonkavision magazine
Rating: 4/5