(from CWSY#6, August '01) / home / reviews index

The Flashing Astonishers - 'The Star-Off Machine' (Koala Records)

Flashing Astonishers?! Do they drop their pants in a surprising and scary manner? Perhaps that's what they do on stage, but on this second compilation they just reveal a sound experimental but comforting.

Abrasive and melodic in equal measure, the tone of the disc is set by opening order 'Stop Right Here', Gregg Yeti's fuzzy bass giving strength to Dan Musclow's nihilistic statements. "I don't need no bible, just my mind". The wilfully independent manner and sound itself reminds me of Urusei Yatsura, whose familiar blend of buzzsaw Sonic Youth guitars and Beach Boys pop is so much missed, although there must be hundreds of groups like this… still, the Astonishers do it so well, standing above many a similar group besides the blues, disco and jazz of hometown Syracuse, NY.

It sounds like the group just play for themselves: a tune carries on after the song has really finished, dissolving in long fade-outs, not wanting to stop. They explore My Bloody Valentine dissonance in 'For Now', where few words are discernible - but the tune changing pace and wafting in-out of the feedback is one that many a commercial rock band would kill for. Ostensibly more straightforward songs like 'The Back Nine' are drenched with echoey vocals, while 'Cats Can See Ghosts' lets loose with many a "baby, baby, yeah!". Lyrics range from this simple to the surprising: the physically jerky rock 'n' roll of 'Less than Shadow' has the jerkish chat-up line "I'll scratch my name on all your records".

The longer drone-rock instrumentals like 'Angelfish' might get wearisome after a few listens, but 'If Irritation Persists' consists of great Sonic Youth aquatic bass repetition, and 'No News' is an exhilarating listen matching the power of a 'real song' like 'Needle Exchange'. Slint-tensioned guitar explodes into Tripping Daisy style all-embracing echo-falsetto guitar windmill stuff. All this from a band who also help out local groups and share their name with the Yeti's fanzine… their Flashing should be reported to promoters, not to police- let's get 'em over here!

www.koalasyndicate.com
Koala Syndicate, PO Box 35070, Syracuse, NY 13235, USA.