Jan 14, 2010
mojophenia.blogspot.com
Guitar revolutionaries rejoice, The N.E.C provide monolithic pitched ear candy. Indie drone submerged with Jesus And The Mary Chain splashed with Spacemen 3. Generally 80`s psychedelia was considered the retro forerunner to the more commercial shoegaze genre we`re subjected to lately, The N.E.C nicely misplace the throwaway pop and produce at times, chaotic layered fuzz. Although complicated, the dominating back beat flows superbly, giving direction and grace to their laid back vocals. In the meantime, I`m sure the seven track release `IS` can obtained from contacting the band directly, the buying links should be up soon.
www.thedecibeltolls.com
Review: The N.E.C. - Is
The first awesome album of 2010 is about to drop from a group of guys you’re probably not familiar with. Hopefully that changes soon. Meet The N.E.C., an acronym for Natural Extension Concept. Their shit is enlightened. The group’s 10″ EP was listed in our Year End List 2009, wherein The N.E.C. was referred to as “the southern response to No Age.” That’s a good reference point, as is fellow Atlantans Deerhunter, though The N.E.C. maintains a more acute and strictly defined approach to space punk.
The N.E.C. has concocted a beautiful, cohesive album with Is, with the only disappointment being its brevity (mas roca, por favor)! Laced with pervasive, dub-like tape echo, atomic shoegaze tonality, loose song structures with gritty production, violent monolithic reverb, ambient explorations, snakey riffs, and an overall melodic sheen, The N.E.C.’s retro futuristic garage psych is distinct yet familiar.
“It’s Right,” within a minute and a half, lets you know where The N.E.C.’s loyalties lie, and they fight fervently on the side of Echoplex, complemented with triumphant percussion, total decibel damage, and guitars so crunchy that gallons of Korova milk couldn’t make that shit soggy. The epic “Dead of Night” explores various strata – everything from fuzzy dream pop to classic dust-swept garage rock to noise within about four and a half minutes, ending with an explosion of skull-crushing… bells. You gotta hear it.
This band is awesome. This record is awesome. Is is available at the group’s website. Go see about it. If Is is not RIAA-certified gold by the beginning of Q3 this year, I’m calling shenanigans on all you dorks.
By: Albert Opraseuth
January 2010
LINK
Huddled over a communal meal of spaghetti and meat sauce in a slightly dilapidated house near East Atlanta, the members of the N.E.C. hardly seem like one of the psychedelic, shoegaze bands that are taking the city by storm. Their calm, settled and quiet demeanor are a stark contrast to the music they release and the magnitude of their stellar live show.
The band's music is psychedelic at its core, however it's everything that is built on top that makes it unparalleled. The hard, aggressive and ripping guitar lines that peak and build to often-chaotic and noisy crescendos are accentuated by how tight the rhythm section anchors the band and carries the cadence. Cyrus Shahmir (guitar and vocals), Jay Royals (drums), James Oh (bass) and Chris Kaufmann (guitar) craft music that's very "in your face," but can still be dramatic and powerful even at slower tempos. But they're definitely at their best when building peaks that are often somewhat tribal.
Nonetheless, aside from their magnificent recordings, it's their live shows that have attracted the attention from everyone in the local scene today. Their shows utilize the loud vintage amplifiers that have helped define their sound, but more than that, it's their ability to take songs they've already written and expand upon them in a live setting.
"There's improvisation on some songs and we will jam on them, but it depends on the crowd," Shahmir says. "Of course the goal of every band is to play well, but it's cool to go epic with it."
Originally started as Shahmir's high school recording project, the N.E.C. has gone through many incarnations. Over the years, the band went through a variety of sounds - that's until Shahmir moved to Atlanta after he completed college. After meeting James Oh, the current line-up began to come together. After the demise of Sovus Radio - another local favorite and friends of the two - Oh and Shahmir recruited Kaufmann and Royals and their new sound was born.
A mix of diverse influences infused the band with a multitude of ideas and directions. Vintage guitars and strange sounds fascinate both Shahmir and Kaufmann. "I've always been into weird guitar sounds," Kaufmann says. "I guess sometimes I'm inspired by sounds that aren't instruments." Shahmir adds, "I just want to hear something that I don't normally hear, or try combinations that maybe someone hasn't tried before. Sometimes it doesn't work, but sometimes you get something that maybe you didn't envision."
Rounding out the band, the rhythm section creates a backbone that allows the chaotic dissonance the guitarists create to shine. They drive and pound through the songs and apparently their chemistry was instant. "I never talk to James about anything," Royals says. "We always just sort of lock in. We've been playing for awhile, but when we first started it was instant. We just knew what we had to do, what we were going for, and just locked in one way or another."
Double Phantom Records and the band's own label, [OVE:EVO], are set to release the N.E.C.'s next full-length record this month. The record was a somewhat relaxed affair compared to previous recording sessions, but their new material is set to showcase how the band has progressed. "It was one of the easiest records to record," Oh says. "As compared to past experiences it went relatively quick. In the past when we recorded, sometimes you think you can record a song in a couple of hours and then it takes two days. We went in there and banged it out. We've definitely matured and progressed as a band since the last time we went into the studio."
Recorded at New Street with Die Slaughterhaus, Mike Wright helped the gentlemen engineer the record on tape. After that they went to the Living Room and mixed the record with Ed Rawls. Filled with the aggressive, ruckus, psychedelic and shoegaze sounds, it will also feature delayed vocals and tape loops.
Albeit struggling, the band hopes that current situations will be behind them and next year will bring them continued success. Plans for a tour that will see them venture beyond the Southeast are in the works, but they'll continue to play many shows in the city they love. Despite often having to slum it around, they've always found the time to practice and pursue their dreams.
"If you have any notion that music is what you want to do, you just have to immerse yourself in it," Kaufmann says. "Because you'll find out really quickly if that's what you want to do or have what it takes."
They're quick to point out they're not musical martyrs, but accept the fact that if you want to play music everyday and tour, then you're going to struggle. However, Oh adds, "I can't think of any kids in Atlanta who want to form a band or are in a band that couldn't find a place to play. That's what's so great about this city."
Having helped their fair share of bands along the way, the N.E.C. is poised to tackle 2010 and spread their music beyond the Southeast. The band musters up everything they can during their passionate and destructive live shows, their recordings reflect their artistic perseverance, and hopefully nights of sleeping cold as shit on random floors while on tour will be far behind them.
www.irockcleveland.blogspot.com
Thursday, December 10, 2009
"And the award to not stocking my inbox with garbage goes to The [N.E.C.] Out of, oh, let's say hundreds of pitches from unknown bands I receive every week, The NEC's "It's Right," is one of the few songs to not only pass the first 30 seconds test, but survive the more stringent, last one week on the hard drive test. More than that, "It's Right," f'n rocks. Unlike many bands who cite shoegazing standards like MBV or Spacemen 3, this band isn't content to crank out feedback and drop out. Clocking in at around the one minute and 45 second mark, "It's Right," combines cascading feedback with something uncommon to those who like cascading feedback -- A thrashing rhythm section."
www.thedecibeltolls.com
THE YEAR END LIST 2009
Time again for the obligatory year end list. However, ours is a bit different than others you may have seen. For example, this list is not enumerated. Empirically ranking albums rather trivializes the music, yes? Nor is the list in any particular order, save for the fact that we assembled it based loosely on aesthetics – meaning, we encourage you to mash on the little javascript media player in the bottom left-hand corner and enjoy our best-of picks as a mixtape or an uninterrupted block of music. Not only is this a fine collection of altered states laments, but each and every one of these albums is better than the Grizzly Bear borecore collection. Believe it!
THE N.E.C./Jovontaes 10" [split]
Sloppy yet lush psychedelic punk that hits hard. Consider Atlanta’s The N.E.C. the southern response to No Age.
December 30th, 2009
by Chad Radford
LINK
The semantics of a word like progressive need to be handled delicately when it comes to the N.E.C. (Natural Extension Concept). The band is defined by an ever-constant push to better itself, but progress for the N.E.C. is a process of refinement. The crux of the group’s energy lies in drawn-out, fugue-like moments of rhythm and grooves formed amid an aural palette of perfectly designed tones, distortions and glacial power. To put it simply, the group’s M.O. is a minimalist approach to psych rock kicked into maximum overdrive. Throughout the group’s latest EP, Is, songs such as “It’s Right,” “Dead of Night” and “Those (Guilty Pleasures)” plunge headlong into the dark, psychedelic murk the group has been surfing since its inception. But this time around, the songs move with a faster motorik velocity that rocks unconditionally while remaining arty and always pushing both aspects to the nth degree. (Double Phantom/[OVE:EVO]) 4 out of 5 stars.
