NORTHERN LIBERTIES–SUFFOCATION 12″–Self Released
1 song, 1 record, 2 sides, who has the balls to do such a thing? Northern Liberties, that’s who! An epic, creepy, droning yet rocking tune that only this West Philly trio can provide. And for those of you too lazy to flip the record, it also comes in CD format…
Category: Reviews
Northern Liberties – Suffocation (The Deli, 2009)
Ghost punk involutioners Northern Liberties have always put on intense shows. As Kevin Riley’s bass and Marc Duerr’s drums distort the senses, Justin Duerr writhes and pounds away on his percussions in a turret of tattooed fury, but at Johnny Brenda’s this Friday, they plan to take it up a notch by unveiling a new 30 minute long song called Suffocation, which will be available on a limited edition 12” vinyl. This will be its official debut live performance, and the band currently plans to only play it one other time so don’t miss out on one of those nights that people talk about how you should’ve been there!
Also on the bill are local punk folk darlings Mischief Brew who are always incredible live, but before they play Johnny Brenda’s, they’ll be dropping in at The Fire for a special all ages acoustic set. Johnny Brenda’s 1201 N. Frankford Ave., 9 PM, $10 myspace.com/northernliberties
– Bill McThrill
http://www.thedelimagazine.com/philadelphia/
Suffocation (Philly Weekly, 3/24/09)
NORTHERN LIBERTIES
It’s a grand plan: Release a limited-edition, 200-copy run of a vinyl album that features one song and then play that song/album in its entirety, “Thick As a Brick”-style. Northern Liberties say they will only play the piece, titled “Suffocation”, live twice, once in Bethlehem, Pa., and once at Johnny Brenda’s. What will it sound like? Only a select few know, but the band describes it as “somber – essentially a ‘winter song’ dealing with problems inherent to existence in a physical dimension.” If “Suffocation” is anything like the early 90’s DIY/grunge/postpunk vibe blended with off-kilter, avant-garde jazz rhythms the band is normally known for, it could be epic.
— Katherine Silkaitis, Philadelphia Weekly, March 18-24, 2009
Northern Liberties “Suffocation” (Philadelphia City Paper, 3/18/09)
Call it a prog-noise opus. Call it a gathering thunderhead. Need a better categorization? You have plenty of time to think one up. The new 12″ from captivating experimental punk trio Northern Liberties is 30 minutes of rumble, swell, shriek and release, a single thrilling song enveloping you in a manner that entire albums would struggle to match. The sludge riffing heard in the earlier part of “Suffocation” builds into pattering marching toms and mantra vocals, a beautiful feedback devotional. Then there’s some distorted bad-trip synthesizer and pounding march to the sea — so much is going on here, so many bits to chew on as the music runs its course. The band calls this its winter song, recorded last December and debuted on the vernal equinox to exorcise those dark months. On a higher level, we’ve been mired in winter for much, much longer than that, and the band has tinkered with this composition for all that time, all those years. Look at this as a rapturous catharsis to usher forth brighter days.
Northern Liberties will perform “Suffocation” in its entirety only twice. This Friday at Johnny Brenda’s will be one of those times. by John Vettese
Northern Liberties prepare to lay their ‘winter song’ to rest (Philadelphia Indie Music Examiner, 3/16/09)
Every so often there comes along a piece of music that is so much more than a just a song. Because of its length and brilliant composition, as well as the other components of its complex structure, it becomes a work of art, a masterpiece. In my experience, this has only happened a handful of times, with songs such as: Nofx’s “the Decline,” Craw’s “Caught My Tell,” and Maiden’s “Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner.” Such songs are somewhat like the “A la recherche du temps perdu” (Marcel Proust’s literary masterpiece) of music. It would seem that every generation has its own “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida,” just as Iron Butterfly did in the late 60’s. And now, the Philadelphia avant garde punk and neo-progressive ghost-core band Northern Liberties has given the Suicide Generation its very own “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida.” The song is titled “Suffocation,” and it consumes a small piece of eternity with its many-layered and intricate parts, which begins with a well-constructed noise base of feedback and distant vocals and continues along a course of varying intensity and heaviness and range. For some odd reason, “Suffocation” reminds me of old Christian Death, the Theatre of Pain days, along with Craw, somewhere between Lost Nation Road and Strontium. It’s obviously a very personal song, with an undercurrent of fierce emotion, in addition to a deep intellectual well from which springs a mighty fountain of thought. All told, “Suffocation” is twenty-nine minutes in length, and it’s worth every second of time that it borrows from the universe.
“Suffocation” is a song that’s not afraid to run with scissors. Nor does it throw salt over its shoulder or knock on wood. It laughs off the seven years bad luck of broken mirrors. And if a black cat should cross its path, it will kneel down and run its cold hand over the animal’s sleek midnight-colored coat, pick it up, and take it home. In other words, it is a rather daring composition. And, to be sure, it leaves enormous footprints in the ground of its path, making it quite easy to track through the wilderness of the City Earth. And I will no doubt follow it to one or both of the only two shows at which Northern Liberties will be performing it live. One in Philadelphia. And another in Bethlehem. Currently we stand on that invisible line which separates the seasons, spring from winter. It’s time to bid farewell to the biting cold and the frost covered ground, to the seemingly perpetual gray skies and the stoical faces of passersby on the street, and the lingering piles of dirty snow melting into the gutters around the city. The sun heralds the approach of spring, and with it the funeral procession begins with head-swelling feedback and noise art, with duel percussion, with keys and thick strings and voice. So, we follow it. And in doing so we realize that we are about witness a “winter song” laid to rest. Simultaneously we lament the loss of one season and celebrate the arrival of another. I am among them. “Suffocation” by Northern Liberties is the music of the occasion. We will hear it live only twice, the first time in Philadelphia, the second in Bethlehem.
James Carlson
Philadelphia Indie Music Examiner
Northern Liberties – “Easter Island” (Shelf Life, 4/3/08)
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Northern Liberties – “Easter Island”
So Northern Liberties is this freaky band I saw a couple weeks ago at Circle of Hope when I went to see British Lit play. They were awesome. Both bands, actually, but NoLibs also had a 7″ for sale so lucky you.
They were a three-piece consisting of a drummer, bassist and singer/percussionist. Sometimes the singer would scream and get in the crowd’s faces, sometimes he would strap on one of those marching band tomtom thingies and just start pounding. Oh, and they brought their own smoke machine.
So yeah, they ruled, and if they’re ever playing in your town make sure you go see ’em. They played a Nirvana cover, too (“Dive”)! The only thing I’m on the fence about is their name. I think it only sounds cool if you’re not from Philly. But that’s most people, so I guess it’s OK.
The single is a couple years old and consists of intense noise and yelling. Not too heavy on the extra percussion on either side, unfortunately, but intriguing nonetheless. I’m posting the b-side because it’s the one that grabbed me more. And I’m posting only the b-side because if you like it you should go buy it. Mine’s numbered four hundered something out of 500 so like, time’s runnin’ out. Get on that.
Posted by Bjorn Randolph at 03:22
http://shelflifetunes.blogspot.com/2008/04/northern-liberties-easter-island.html
Northern Liberties :: Ghost Mind Electricity (Heathen Harvest, 2/15/08)
Friday, February 15 2008 @ 12:00 AM PST
Contributed by: S:M:J63
Label: Badmaster Records United States
Genre: Psychedelic / Post-punk / Grunge
01 Controlled by Voices from Beyond
02 Children of the Unholy Cross
03 Among the Unborn
04 Psionic Sorcery Song
05 Justice for Tommy
06 Changing
07 Silver Fire
08 E.G.G. (Emerald Ghost Garden)
09 Dead Deer House
10 Cre(mate)
11 Asylum
12 National Anthem (For Birds)
Okay, there’s two things you should know – firstly, I am not much for listening to ‘conventional’ music these days, simply because a great deal of it is just simply regurgitated dullness while at the more commercial end it’s just pure unalloyed pap; secondly, and more importantly in the context of this review, that despite Northern Liberties’ music being quite conventional compared to the normal run of my musical tastes I have to say quite unequivocally that this is bloody excellent quality stuff from the quirky Philadelphia trio, starting right from the bright yellow six panel digipak decorated with vocalist & percussionist Justin Duerr’s striking naïve artwork (which continues on the interior with the exception of the band portraits) and on to the music itself. One of the more noteworthy aspects of their music is that they break away from the conventional band structure of guitar, bass and drums, relying on just percussion, drums and bass to build musical pictures of their strange and very much out-of-kilter universe.
It’s slightly shambolic and tinged with madness, but don’t let that fool you for one second – in reality sharpness defines everything on this album, from the tightness of the musicianship to Justin’s imaginative lyricism and poetic imagery. Taking some of the lyrical and unsettling surreality of the seventies’ psychedelic scene and marrying it to a post-punk grunge aesthetic, Justin, his brother Marc and bassist Kevin (no second name given) construct a driving behemoth of a musical vehicle imbued with energy and razor-sharp edginess. To top it all off Justin’s plaintive, nervy and asylum-inflected vocals are the perfect counterpoint to the drums- and bass-propelled backing framework, investing it with even more nervous electricity and lighting it all up with a neon-lit brightness. The world that Justin sings about is a disturbing, fuzzy, out of focus and more than slightly unhinged one, a place seemingly solely inhabited by interestingly pale gothic heroines, fortean phenomena, devil children and misplaced souls still looking for their owners.
Above all though, it’s that tension between the nervy vocal delivery and the dirty self-assured and self-confident powerhouse of the music that contributes to the deliciously electric shiver-inducing frisson of pleasure this album produces and is also the main reason why I like it so much. Personal favourites are ‘Controlled by Voices from Beyond’, ‘Children of the Unholy Cross’, ‘Psionic Sorcery Song’, ‘Changing’ and ‘Cre(mate)’ – absolutely perfect examples of what happens when the alchemy of words and music is handled by masters of the art.
In a world where the musical, cultural and aesthetic tastes of the many are seemingly dictated by the so-called music media and governed by the lowest common denominator it’s always a joy to come across those who are resolutely determined to swim against the tide, just like these folks are doing. What pisses me off most though is that these same people, who have genuine talent and ability in buckets, will never get to the top of the pile where they deserve to reside while the no-hopers get spoon-fed to the drooling glassy-eyed masses and passed off as the genuine article. Ah well, at least there are those of us who are more than discerning than the vast majority it seems….
Northern Liberties – Ghost Mind Electricity (Deaf Sparrow, 2008)
Now that the whole no guitar pure bass and drums band formula is going into some sort of toddler-like stage we can assess the work of bands like this Philadelphia foursome and used other templates as a point of comparison. Of the most distinctive and that we could probably tag as a flagship band we got Big Business (Here Come the Waterworks), whose latest work has taken a right turn and has improved greatly simply by re-targeting the songwriting towards a more immediate sound. Northern Liberties’ newest recording is somewhere in the middle, not so far to the left as to come off as way experimental, nor too right indented as to come off as formulaic, radio-ready, or to grant the tagging of ‘fucking sell-out’, it works quite well for a few tracks, but then it sort of falls and gets rather bland.
It’s obvious that the main instrument is the bass here, its tone is low (though not lower than say a Kyuss guitar) and clear but it carries the weight of the music making the absence of the six strings quite rightful. There are no riffs here, but notes moving up and down and side to side and drums playing their part, quite conservatively I must say, considering this is a band with no guitars. Brothers Marc and Justin Duerr handle the drums and voice/percussion here, and is obvious that in some parts there is an extra layer of skin beating.
The things is Ghost Mind Electricity comes off strong; “Controlled By Voices From Beyond” sounds like a more no wave and cro-magnon Talking Heads, and is followed by “Children of the Unholy Cross’, another strong cut that is singularly great at crafting a different take of the standard rock format. The absence of the guitars is here not an issue; when the track goes hard, fuck who cares about the fucking guitar? But as we approximate the middle of the album the songwriting gets lazy, hooks vanish and ideas of great bands Northern Liberties might evoke are no more. There is great stuff here, but it just isn’t enough and the songwriting isn’t even. “Changing” lacks everything, it sounds incomplete and uninventive. The sad part is the second half screams for a guitar, which kind of breaks the whole objective of the structure of the band.
Northern Liberties – Ghost Mind Electricity (Maximum Rocknroll, February 2008)
This album definitely has its moments, and when it’s on, it’s on – the first song being one of the coolest I’ve heard in some time. Armed only with bass, percussion, and vox, NORTHERN LIBERTIES seem to channel a David Yow-esque sort of weirdo rock, musically and vocally. The vocals at times also have a bit of that INTERPOL -style fake Ian Curtis to them. The lack of guitar does cause this to feel a bit incomplete, but at times the holes seem to actually create the melodies. Unfortunately there are tracks throughout this album that I can’t tolerate one bit. Those are just a bit too “out there” for me. All in all, this disc is a rather eclectic collection of tunes that has some definite winners.
— Review by Justin Briggs, from Maximum Rock N Roll issue number 297, Feb. ’08
Northern Liberties – Ghost Mind Electricity (DUCK blog on WKDU.org, 2007)
Way back when, in the early days of this new decade/millennium, when Northern Liberties (the neighborhood) was quickly becoming the next stop on the gentrification express; I had a small glimmer of hope that the rise in the profile of Northern Liberties (the neighborhood) would in turn help rise the profile of Northern Liberties (the band). Granted I never believed for a second that the majority of people who would possibly become aware of this West Philly trio by their association (in name) with an up-and-coming neighborhood would accept them with open arms. But hey, any press is good press, right….
Jump back to the present, and now Northern Liberties (the neighborhood) is one of the city’s hottest spots to live & hang out (at least until Fishtown/Kensington gets off the ground), and Northern Liberties (the band) remain one of Philly’s best kept secrets. Which is not necessarily a bad thing, I mean some of the greatest artists spent their entire lives shrouded in obscurity waiting patiently for the rest of the world to develop the eyes, ears, or whatever senses are required to fully appreciate their work (I believe the scientific term for this is The Van Gogh syndrome). And that definitely puts these guys in with good company…
But on the other hand, now that Northern Liberties (the neighborhood) is a safe haven for hipsters & yuppies alike (though in actuality there is little difference between the two, the hipster of today is really just the yuppie of tomorrow, you know, when mommy & daddy cut off the trust fund and they have to get, like, a real job, but I digress…), people approaching Northern Liberties (the band) for the first time may be a bit puzzled by the odd choice of name. Well let me be the one to enlighten you there newbie. Let’s step back in the Way Back machine shall we & take a look at the city in years of NLBG (Northern Liberties Before Gentrification, for those of you not down with acronyms). And what did this now hip & bustling community look back then: A vast, teeming industrial wasteland of abandoned warehouses, broken street lamps, danger, & madness (remember folks this was, more or less, the area of Philadelphia that inspired David Lynch to make Eraserhead). And it is these images that, in a way, best describe the music that Northern Liberties makes.
Make no bones about it, these boys are all about the doom & gloom, but they also can recognize the beauty & wonder that exists in this modern urban asylum.
(Note to the band:
If you’re looking for critical endorsements to slap on the cover, I humbly offer the previous statement as well as the following:
“The Soundtrack to Humanity’s Spiritual Apocalypse & Rebirth”
“Songs About the Things That Go Bump in the Nightmare of Your Psyche”
“What Lurks in the Shadows When You’re Alone at Night? Listen to This Album and Find Out!”
“Hey, If You’re a Pigeon You’ll Love This Band!”)
Which brings us (at last!) to Ghost Mind Electricity, Northern Liberties newest tome to the mysteries of modern life. Recorded by Don Zientara at Inner Ear Studios, this album tackles subject matter such as: voices calling from other astral planes, the dreams of unborn babies, death, resurrection, dead deers, war, blood, psychic nurses, & in Northern Liberties’ ongoing struggle for the rights of birds everywhere, finally, a National Anthem (For Birds).
My reaction to this album, as well as the other Northern Liberties’ album & most of all their live shows, is really hard (if not outright impossible) to put into words. It definitely grabs me in an intellectual level, as well as a gut level, but in the end it grabs me the most in a spiritual way (hey here’s another blurb: Finally a Band That Will Make The Atheists Believe In…Something!). Each encounter with this band (and once again the live shows especially) is like a baptism in fire, blood, & electricity, and every time I reemerge I’m still convinced that the world is a dark & scary place, but I also have a renewed hope that there still is something resembling magic in this world…
Once again Justin Duerr & co. have walk down that fine line between madness & enlightenment into the gaping jaw of the unknown & have come back, souls intact, with an album reporting what they have found for benefit for all of us true believers…