Category: Reviews

Northern Liberties “Ghost Mind Electricity” (Walked in Line, 2007)

dana

The American group looks quite at Les Savy Fav but more complex and Fugazi with a big layer of madness.
You have the sort of disc that is good everywhere and that one listens to carefully and enjoy every moment. The structures are offbeat and surprising in the way of a good Shellac. The singing is fabulous and flies on big guitars. The bass is very forward and often full. The sounds are sometimes disturbing and it is very hard to move in this musical setting that is so unconventional.
Fortunately, the group at the delicious idea recover all the world with “Dead Deer House” in the middle of the CD. A piece much more direct and punk with a melody very strangely The Cure at an early stage. An original group that should not go unnoticed among twisted. If you find this nice yellow digipack and you are looking for something different to put you in the ears, then it’s time to crack. (Chris)

GENRE : Post Punk/Hc

******************************************************************************

Untranslated version, for all our French speaking friends:

Northern Liberties “Ghost Mind Electricity” (Bad Master)
Ce groupe américain ressemble pas mal à Les Savy Fav mais en plus complexe avec du Fugazi et une grosse couche de folie. Vous avez le genre de disque qui fait du bien partout et que l’on écoute avec attention en dégustant chaque instant. Les structures sont décalées et surprenantes à la manière d’un bon Shellac. Le chant est fabuleux et s’envole sur de grosses guitares. La basse est très en avant et souvent saturée. Les sonorités sont parfois inquiétantes et on a beaucoup de mal à se diriger dans ce décor musical qui se montre de manière non conventionnelle. Heureusement, le groupe à la délicieuse idée de récupérer tout le monde avec « Dead Deer House » au milieu du CD. Un morceau bien plus direct et punk avec une mélodie étrangement très The Cure à leur début. Un groupe original qui ne devrait pas passer inaperçu chez les tordus. Si vous trouvez ce joli digipack jaune et que vous cherchez quelque chose de différent à vous mettre dans les oreilles, alors c’est le moment de craquer. (Chris)


French paper & online music ‘zine ‘Walked In Line’….

Northern Liberties – Ghost Mind Electricity (Paniscus Revue, 2007)

dana

Wild beats and tweaked instrumentation combine with a vocal approach somewhere between Davids Byrne and Yow for an eclectic emission from the tri-partite Ghost Mind. Militaristic drumbeats seem to herald the dawning of a spirituality that becomes more physical than spectral as the tracks roll on through tales of “Children of the Unholy Cross,” “Psionic Sorcery Song” and “Dead Deer House.” At times subtle and restrained, but more often than not barely under control, these 12 songs possess a frenetic underworld energy that is singularly arresting as the pieces flower and decay. One can’t help but wonder what it would sound like if the songs were ‘overmastered,’ given additional layers and effects capable of building and destroying alien graveyards. As with the previous Secret Revolution, the artwork by vocalist Justin Duerr is excellent, an intricate illustration of the “ghost punk” ethos at work. Would probably be most amazing live.

Northern Liberties :: Ghost Mind Electricity (Hellride Music, 9/26/07)

dana

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!

Northern Liberties Interview (Compendium)

dana

… Northern Liberties Interview by Kevin McKeon “If we could do a national tour of insane asylums” says Northern Liberties’ drummer Mark Duerr, “we’d be huge”. It seems like the people that are right on the edge are the ones telling us, ‘I get it, man!'”
“I am sure that a large percentage of people consistently interested in what we’re doing have been through the mental health system,” adds vocalist and brother, Justin Duerr.
… Mark continues, “It’s more the fact that people who have been misunderstood by the world as a whole have spent a large portion of their lives looking for something to make them feel normal about the different way they view things. When they see us take on music in a non-traditional way, I think that’s the thing that makes us accessible. “
… Indeed, listening to Northern Liberties is not a sign of mental illness. It just means that one is able to appreciate something out of the ordinary.Hypnotic, other-worldly melodies are propelled by bassist Kevin (who goes solely by his first name) with no other instruments outside of the rhythm section. Well, that is unless you count the delay pedal Justin uses on his vocals as an instrument, as the band does. It certainly adds another dimension to his strangely poetic lyrics.
… At the same time, the band’s brand of “ghost punk” is not a million miles away from most blues-based rock. There are times when they sounds as straightforward and rowdy as any punk band, or as catchy as any pop band.
“I don’t really think of us as experimental,” Justin explains. “We pretty much know how things are gonna go down when we start. The songs are pretty much the length that Western music has followed for the past eighty years. Our intention was never to focus on any preconceived genre or sound. ‘Ghost punk’ is a good genre name.”
… “If we were totally experimental,” he states, “we wouldn’t have [general] appeal; it’d be too off the grid. But a lot of the times, it’s the older Vietnam vets that… get what we were doing. I don’t think they would if we were just playing noise. We’re just enough like The Eagles, but then totally different.
… ” Live performances are just as strange and engaging as their music. Justin can sometimes get up close and personal with the audience. He might also decide to put on a dress. Actually, there’s no real way to describe all the things he might do, but whatever they are, they’re certainly exciting.
… “I’m just trying to engage people in an actual event,” he says. “It’s like, ‘well, you’re here with us now, so lets all have this experience together,’ and it’s gonna be real. I’d like to think of it as cathartic and humanistic, but in this way where everybody can participate… even if that means they’re just standing there. If they want to stay in the back, they’re free to do that, but I will walk over to them. If they want to be with me, they can. If they want to punch me, they can. If they want to leave, they can. I just want to engage them.
Having formed back in 2000 and released two albums, Northern Liberties has honed their craft in a most unlikely way; by not trying too hard to do so. Their songwriting process is every bit as spontaneous and unpredictable as their performances.
“Most song writing is by inspiration, “explains Kevin. “There’s not really a lot of math involved. If we don’t have the vocals, or if we try too much studio trickery, we get confused.
… “We play it ’til it feels like it should change, “Mark chimes in, “and that’s based on when one of us gives an eye symbol.” While he says this with a laugh, it’s unclear to what extent he is joking.
… Northern Liberties has adopted a similarly impulsive attitude in the studio. “On our first CD, ” Mark recounts, ” we tried to do the bass and drums separately, and then the vocals and everything. That didn’t work out as well. It [is] so much better for us to all be in the room when we record because we play off each other. The way Justin sings, he never does it exactly the same way twice. “
And exactly what is he singing about? “The words themselves are pretty abstract. [They] are kind of like a garden, but the seeds that are grown are randomly gathered. I don’t know what they’re gonna be, and then certain weeds choke out other flowers. I’m not as interested in something that’s… overtly message-based. I like things that have a spiritual or religious connotation, but if it becomes very specific, it’s a bit of a turn-off.”
… Don’t look for anything specific in Northern Liberties’ long-term goals, either. They intend to have an album out in the near future (as well as another collaborative album) and an 18 day cross-country tour. Their ultimate goal is simply to keep chugging along.
Kevin points to the longevity of their personal relationships. “Those two [are] brothers and [I went] to high school with them and have known them since I was 12. It’s pretty much just [a question of] how long will we physically be interested in playing music together or how long will our bodies physically allow us to do it. “
… Northern Liberties is highly optimistic toward the Philadelphia music scene, in particular, the multitude of basement shows in West Philly. Especially that they’re run by younger people, most of whom have learned to accept different kinds of music and look outside the confines of MTV and record companies.
… “These kids have this support network that consists of the internet and people they never met in other cities… so their tastes have become way more diverse,” says Mark. “What we’re doing, it’s not really that weird to them.”
… ” Philly’s always been the underdog, “explains Justin. “Like Rocky. [He]tries his very best and in the end, it kicks ass. He still doesn’t win, but he’s the true Philly hero.
…”I really feel like Philly is poised to almost win. There’s an incredible amount of bands around now. “
The times are getting stranger and for Northern Liberties, that is a very good thing.

Northern Liberties Live Review (Phillylist.com)

dana

Dude. So the length of my exposure to metal is System of a Down. And even then it was just as much for their political awareness as it was for their music. It was abrasive, but I felt comfortable enough to blast it in my room if I was in the right mood. The Northern Liberties, though, were a totally different animal for me: probably a large, shadowy animal lurking just out of eyesight waiting tear a hole in my head and suck my soul through a straw. It was a simple trio: a {Bass}guitar, full drum set and a lead vocalist on a snare. The set started on loud, aggressive chords and drums much too fast for dancing. The lead banged out a drum solo reminiscent of African dance troupes. The lights turned red and a smoke rose from behind the stage as the lead stopped abruptly, snatched a microphone and barreled out into the audience, screaming incomprehensible lyrics and swaying wildly, eyes rolled back, half falling backwards, just gone. He avoided the light afterwards, holding his head. Ripped out the mic cord and threw it aside as if it were a snake getting ready to bite him. The guitarist asked if he needed help. He said something about the colors. I stayed for another song but soon enough I headed back to the bar to get some air. My companion for the evening remarked on the darkness in the Millcreek’s front half. “It’s perfect,” she laughed, “it’s like this half is heaven and the other is hell.” “Ya, “I said. “Perfect.”

Northern Liberties – Secret Revolution (Punk Planet #75, Sept/Oct 2006)

dana

Roarrrr…Grrrr… Three guys – on bass, drums, and guttural screams, respectively – play definitely heavy, thoroughly metal anthems called things like “Don’t Kill My Sister”. They pack an impressive stash of effect pedals, which warp the bass from growls to screeches, and include standout percussive passages whereby they rhythmically pummel things with sticks. Opener “Midnight Train To The Dogfood Factory” sets the LP’s tone: racous, obnoxious, and sometimes absurd. After listening to 19 exhaustive tracks of morbid imagery and slaying bass lines, you may feel tortured enough to write your own Liberties-inspired anthem of pain. I’d simply call mine “Ouch”.
— Reviewed by KG in Punk Planet #75, Sept./Oct. 2006

Northern Liberties – Secret Revolution CD (Lowcut #36, August 2006)

dana

Northern Liberties – Secret Revolution CD (Worldeater Records) You want edgy, angular, experimental post-hardcore, you say?Want it to be quasi-intellectual, you say? As if it could be anything else – given the first demands. And you want a whole hour of it? Don’t want to pay too much for it, either? OK, Worldeater Records will sell you this album or $6. That’s pretty fair, I think. It’s a good album, too, even if, with 18 songs on it, it’s a bit much, especially since Northern Liberties are something of a Dogme project, in that the line-up consists of one drummer, one percussionist, and one bassist. OK, you get vocals, too,, lots of effects on top of it as well, but if you want guitars, you’ll have to search elsewhere. What you get here is raw, artistic expression in the vein of No Means No or Shellac. Not an easy album to listen to, by no means, at times it’s extremely bleak, but it’s rewarding in its own way. If you dig: No Means No, Fugazi, Shellac

reviewd by – Jon A.

Northern Liberties – Secret Revolution (Slug and Lettuce #87, Spring 2006)

dana

The new NORTHERN LIBERTIES CD has come out and it is amazing! Really, it is so good. If there was ever a band in Philly that gets overlooked it’s NORTHERN fuckin LIBERTIES. They have a sound that goes beyond explanation. Similar to the band that once called Philly home, MACHINE THAT FLASHES, NORTHERN LIBERTIES is a percussion and bass combo overlaid with vocals. A fellow named Justin belts out bizarre lyrics with a sense of infectious madness. Here are the words to Midnight Train To The Dogfood Factory – “O canned food, Broken hearts, Heads on sticks + burning cars, Flightless birds + sightless worms, Fly into a black sun, that never burned – Midnight train – pulls away – Destination: Death Factory.” Yes, their words are out there. Seeing them live sometimes gives me goosebumps it is so- so- fuck, words fail me to get the right mood, and the sound they build. Comparisons – humm. a bit Joy Division, with part Fugazi and an added touch of heaviness, it’s damn intense. Definitely if you want to check out a band that is pushing boundaries that need to be pushed, it is NORTHERN LIBERTIES. The recording they built sounds real good and the CD is filled with Justin’s artwork – intricate drawings that make me think of what Nick Blinko would do if he ended up squatting in Philly during his formative years…

— reviewed by – MIKE STRAIGHT from SLUG AND LETTUCE number 87, Spring 2006.

Northern Liberties – Secret Revolution (DISAGREEMENT.NET, May 2006)

dana

Some bands just follow the fashion and bore the hell out of me. Rarer are those that find a niche of their own. They also don’t make life easy for the common music reviewer, but at least they command our undivided attention. Philadelphia three-piece Northern Liberties, founded in 2000, only need drums, percussion, bass and vocals to make their music work. Of course this is conjuring images of NoMeansNo and Ruins, and strangely enough Northern Liberties cover a song by a band called Ruin (not Ruins). Secret Revolution is basically a rock album, where the bass is played like a guitar, giving the music a weirdly humming and droning sound. The lack of guitars puts the music into a very deep register, but Justin Duerr’s vocals sometimes have this enigmatic punk quality that gives the songs a festive ambience. His brother Marc enriches the songs with his busy drumming, while bass player K. provides melody and rhythm. Northern Liberties are best when they are carried away by big melodies, like on Angels With Broken Glass Teeth and Long Distance Shadow. Their punk roots are showing when they cover Ruin’s Great Divide or on the Fugazi-like Auto Pilot. The album’s only problem is that one hour is just too long for this genre so full of detail. The artwork has been created by singer Justin Duerr, who combines exceptional technique with a weird twist of spirituality into an artistic entity which is as original as it is beautiful to behold. Sold for only 6 US$ (plus postage if you live outside the US), Worldeater Records distribute their releases for the lowest possible price. Those who are into guitar-less alt punk rock music which is experimental and catchy at the same time, will have to get a copy of Secret Revolution.

— DISAGREEMENT.NET, May 2006

Taking liberties, In the cave with Philly’s rock extremists (Philadelphia City Paper, March 2-8 2006)

dana

Taking Liberties, In the cave with Philly’s rock extremists.
by A.D. Amorosi

“When we play I try to make ghosts come out of our amplifiers,” says Justin Duerr. Conjuring spirits is nothing new for Justin and Northern Liberties, the trio he sings and writes for. Ghosts are a musical part of the “biorhythms and environmental factors” that Justin Duerr claims pushes their metallic sound. Ghosts haunt the lyrics he calls “silent love-wars”?improvisations filled with flowers, bees, hibernating birds, dreaming deer and soft-antlered mud worms. Their records?like their brand new Secret Revolution?are gorgeously extreme, effects-laden maelstroms punctuated by pick-driven bass and voices that caterwaul and mumble. Not the xtreme of Killswitch Engage, snowboarding and X Games. In a universe where obviousness rules, making music that’s extreme yet doesn’t yield to stupidity is an anomaly. The shaggy trio from Overbrook and South Philly?Justin Duerr, Marc Duerr, Kevin Riley?make their music almost covertly. Theirs is a more underground ideal than most, despite its joyful primordial roar. Chromelodeon and Robotrake look like Christina and Britney in comparison. “We’re the only band doing what we do,” says Riley. Dick-size posturing? There’s a prideful resignation in his tone. You’ll sense Joy Division, Syd Barrett and the spiritually imbued Ruin in NoLib’s minimalist sound and lyrical abstractions. But there’s a hidden code to what they do, something obtuse and beautiful. Before 2000, Northern Liberties’ members were in Eulogy and Firetruck of Beer. They lived in squats, recorded hours of music no one would ever hear and played often at the infamous Catbox practice house in West Philly. “Liberties was born at the Catbox,” says Justin, who moved out of the Box in 2003. There’s no connection between this heaving metal trio and the poncy Philly neighborhood of the same name. Their moniker refers to the old meaning; “northern liberties” were sections of cities like Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia where no one tied down their animals. They didn’t have to. These neighborhoods were considered wild, outlying regions. “We saw ourselves as a musical equivalent?a band choosing a path of untethered freedom on the outskirts,” says Justin. “Northern Liberties is pretty poncy. But it was back in 2000 when we named ourselves.” That renegade vibe describes Riley’s Worldeater label, home to Northern Liberties and at least 15 other bands. We’re talking CDs and vinyl from hybrid metal/punk acts like Hellblock 6, Kiss Kiss Kill or World Famous Crawlspace Brothers. The acts were chosen because, like NoLibs, they’re on the edges of their respective genres. That’s where the comparison between band and label ends. The minimalist dynamics of Northern Liberties sound like nothing else on the label. Ask them to explain those dynamics and weird magic kicks in. “Pigeons weren’t meant to live in holes?they’re cliff dwellers. So I’m not so into pigeonholing things,” says Justin. “We are trying to discover a sound that’s beyond us, beyond ourselves as individuals, beyond direct frames of reference.” He says Northern Liberties likes to step aside and let the songs out with as little interference from the band as possible. Talking about what he calls a “feedback loop” philosophy of writing songs “through electrochemical, electroharmonic vibrations,” Justin says he believes that the band creates music while reacting to it. “That is why we are “rocked’ by our own music.” Having witnessed their performances, electric and acoustic, I can attest to the trance that envelops all comers. “We’re not just playing the songs. We’re hearing it as it unfolds?as audience members,” says Justin. Through screeching psychedelic volume or quietude, there’s holiness at work. Not religion, exactly?although Justin is a minister in an order of his devising, Church Of Divine Energy?but rather a force field of ghost electricity and all attendant powers. “Music is a spiritual pursuit,” according to Justin. If you’re moved by Secret Revolution, it’s because you are that music. It’s your quietude, your holiness. It’s a place, like they speak of in “Mainframe,” where a song can endow a person with supernatural powers. Amen.
Northern Liberties will play Thu., March 2, 9 p.m., $8, with Radio Eris, Kandy Whales and ShellShag, The Khyber, 56 S. Second St., 215-238-5888, www.worldeaterrecords.com, www.justinduerr.com.

–Philadelphia City Paper, March 2- 8, 2006