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….

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.

“ghost mind electricity” is the lord knows how many-th record by west philly heroes northern liberties. usually a band who are much better represented by their live show then by their recorded output, the band appears to have finally struck gold, doing it up right and heading down to inner ear to let don zientara run the knobs on this. the result is definitely the best sounding northern liberties output thus far. the music is the same formula, drums+bass+vox(and sometimes more drums). the result is very offbeat and loose but still punk sounding. a record can break into either an intense moment or a stoner jam on the drop of a dime. while still a band that you really need to see live to get the full effect, this is the best shot so far at a truly AWESOME record by the band. i cant even recommend any tracks because they are pretty much all awesome.

This is the third full length album by Philadelphia’s own NORTHERN LIBERTIES.

It’s obvious that lots of people can relate the energy of live music to a spiritual experience, but
Northern Liberties are one of the few bands whose music is MEANT to be a spiritual experience.
The brainchild of Valiant Death logo artist Justin Duerr (author of “Decades of Confusion Feed The
Insect” zine), this album is the best recording of Northern LIberties to date (and I’ve loved this band
since I was 16…) – heavy, heavy rhythms and bass driven melodies yet again set the stage for Justin’s
occult themed lyrics.

This isn’t just good music written about weird stuff, this is a tome of belief, a testament to the ideas
behind what Duerr refers to as “Ghost Mind Electricity” and the foundations for what has only come
to be known as “Ghost Punk”.

Beautiful packaging for this CD – a 6 panel full color digipak and a 8 page lyric booklet, in addition
to the long running time of this 12 track album make this a very worthy investment for anyone seeking
something new and different.

– Bucky Lewis –

THE PAGODA FIVE: Best Albums Of 2007, Entries 10-6

9. Northern Liberties – Ghost Mind Electricity (Badmaster) Third album from the Philadelphia trio that discovered the fine line between Joy Division and the Misfits. Recorded at the legendary Inner Ear Studio in Virginia (home of 98% of the Dischord catalog) with its equally revered owner/engineer Don Zientara, its’ the trio’s most accomplished recording yet. (http://www.northernlibertiesband.com – available on CD)

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

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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 (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!