The Sleepover Disaster

I Thought I loved this Fresno, CA, powerhouse sufficiently on their second LP, the well-titled Loud is the New Quiet, a year ago. Well, you can beat me with any kitchen implement, because this five-song follow-up is awesome. It hasn't exited my five-disk changer since it first gained entry, like a first that's surprisingly still in your house a month later. Like Australia's badly overlooked, incredible '90s greats Glide (Open up and Croon, etc.), this may be one of the best records of this sort you've never heard.
Firstly, get a load of Taron Barefield’s string bending Kevin Shields/My Bloody Valentine guitar pyrotechnics on top of the exploding wall of bass and drums out of Swervedriver on “Cathedral.” Did anyone think that Loveless could ever propose marriage to Mescal Head and then consummate it in such Technicolor explosion? The quiet part in the middle must have been merely a reloading intermission, because, like that young couple upstairs who shake the walls all the time, they’re right back at it again. What a rush of raw beauty amidst such slamming rock. There’s a little more of that on “Still Life,” too: that spectral, senses-shocking reverb and pitch-shifting string-twisting, setting up an MBV “When You Sleep” –like verse – with the same paradoxical innocence present in talented songwriter/guitarist Luke Giffen’s water-clear vocals.
Otherwise, and much differently, the opening “Hold My Tongue” and “Grey Eyes,” a lashing ode of longing to a lost love (no more sleepovers, I guess), are more straightforward rapid rockers. Giffen’s guitars are more contained on these two, wrapped around engineer/producer/bassist Eric Peter’s florid lines and Vince Corsaro’s forceful stickwork. But on “Grey Eyes” he slips in an unexpected Byrds guitar lead, and the song’s persistent drive reminds me of the genius that was Ride on the punishing “unfamiliar”. Only the closing title track goes for an old Slowdive shogaze melt. And by then, you’re ready for such a voyage, a less tumultuous sail after such stormy seas – and lacking the danger of being sucked overboard by the giant squid attacking the ship on the EP’s sleeve drawing.
Play it over and over and over and over . . .
By Jack Rabid, The Big Takeover Issue #58 p. 149
- Jack Rabid, The Big Takeover.

THE SLEEPOVER DISASTER- THE OCEANOGRAPHER ep- OVERCAST- This Fresno, CA quartet sure know how to turn DAGGERBOY’S head. You wanna know how ? Take a strong influence from My Bloody Valentine’s LOVELESS and , well, write great songs (geez, what a concept ) complete with guitar overload and 6-styring beauty as well. Vocalist/ guitarist Luke Giffin has his head screwed on tight as do the pounding rhythm section of bassist Eric Peters and drummer Vince Corsaro and if they can all avoid getting addicted to ,say, Domino’s Pizza (or drugs ) then they can really make ago of this rock thing and do pretty damn well, I’d say. Listen to “Still Life” and “Cathedral’ and trey and tell me I’m wrong. The band plans on packing their bags and heading north here to Portland and if that’s the case, I’ll be front and center at the debut gig. A classic if anyone’s looking.

from - http://www.indiepages.com/dagger/reviews17.html - indiepges.com/dagger

Continuing right where the excellent "Loud Is The New Quiet" album left off, California's The Sleepover Disaster are back with this new five song EP. This time out it seems as though the band is incorporating some power-pop influences into their shoegazing sound, with the album opener "Hold My Tongue" and "Grey Eyes" being prime examples of their new, more upbeat, approach. If songs like these two bad boys are a sign of things to come from the band, I'm all for it. Those looking for the band's more traditional shoegazer songs will want to direct their attention to "Cathedral" and the closing title track which recall those classic Ride/Slowdive guitar epics, without sounding like a tired rehash - mostly thanks to lead singer Luke Giffens awesomely charged vocal performance (he's one of the few singers on the newgazer scene that can actually "sing"). I'm not sure where The Sleepover Disaster is going to go musically for their next release, but I am sure that I want to hear it really soon.

DAVID MANSDORF

from - http://www.losingtoday.com/reviews.php?review_id=3079&band_alpha=t - Losing Today

TOP 10 EP’S
1. Ivy League- LONDON BRIDGES (Twenty Seven)
2. Postal Blue- ROAD TO HAPPINESS (Humblebee)
3. Pas/Cal- DEAR SIR (Le Grand Magistery)
4. Voxtrot- MOTHERS, SISTERS, DAUGHTERS & WIVES (Cult Hero)
5. The Returnables- S/T (Dirtnap)
6. The Sleepover Disaster- THE OCEANOGRAPHER (Overcast)
7. Harper Lee- HE HOLDS A FLAME (Matinee)
8. Airfields- LANEWAYS (Humblebee)
9. Lake Holiday- THE CURSE OF SUNSHINE (Debris)
10. Beauty Sleep- NATURE VS NURTURE (Skipping Stones)

from - http://www.indiepages.com/dagger/2006.html - Dagger Magazine

Note to self: Get online and order this band’s first EP, 2000’s Only If… and earlier LP, 2001’s Staring at Nothing. Fresno, CA’s The Sleepover Disaster’s business card says, “melodic spacey modern rock music,” which is like a card for the Empire State Building saying “tall tower.” Way too modest, boys; with those words, you fail to prepare your listeners for the kickass crunching, swirling guitars by songwriter/singer Luke Giffen and lead player Taron Barefield, as well as for the tight, seething-to-moody rhythm section of engineer/producer/bassist Eric Peters and drummer Vince Corsaro. The tongue-in-cheek-entitled Loud is the New Quiet is packed with layered soundscapes of guitars married to some pounding Catherine Wheel post-shoegazing rock that’s part wall of sound and part psychedelic punk journey. Whereas a band like Britain’s Engineers bliss out on hypnotic mid-tempo ambient repetition, these guys get the indie rock/post-punk explosive grind in there on a few songs, such as the smashing “29 Seconds” (which rips so hard, thank Beelzebub that it’s not in fact 29 seconds long) or the equally amazing opening track, “Comet” (think The Catherine Wheel’s “Free of Mind,” “Strange Fruit,” and “Broken Nose”). Frankly, on the few up-tempo rockers, these guys smoke, with Giffen’s smooth vocal riding all over it all the way a surfer coolly manages a pipeline. And the songs themselves are equally imposing, sporting mighty melodies that match the endlessly invigorating guitar work. As for the rest, some of the more oozing, dreamscape songs lack the same killer drive and power-packed excitement, but since they can be equally challenging and mesmeric, they just confirm this group’s well-roundedness. We’re told they plan to move to Portland. Up to now, they’ve only toured the West Coast, but maybe we can convince them to “go east, young men.” This record is just shockingly great. Fire up that browser and get out the credit card.

By Jack Rabid
The Big Takeover, issue 56, p.178.
- Jack Rabid, The Big Takeover.

*This is a sneak preview, as the album’s release date is February 10. But there’s no way to keep a lid on a great record. A secret fear that this steadily improving Fresno, CA shoegaze trio might have prematurely peaked on 2005’s Oceanographer EP (after two promising albums) is crumpled up and chucked into the shredder. Hover is as good as that EP, the three years likely spent carefully mounting nine more killers to contest for the crown of “best.” Like their brothers in arms down south, L.A.’s Darker My Love—who slant towards Jesus & Mary Chain, Ride, and Pale Saints to Sleepover’s heavier, string-bending My Bloody Valentine-gone-Slowdive sweeps and Swervedriver slashes—this thrusting threesome pull out every stop. Hover ranges from gently beautiful burbles (again with a slight warp of whammy bar and distorted spectral vistas!!) such as “Make You Sing” and the closing epic, “Songwriting For Dummies,” to the hammer damage riffing and soaring melody of the standout “Tremble”—leader Luke Giffen making use of an angelic top range to drive his hook home. This and smashers such as “Edward Said” and “Funnel Cloud” take flight on Eric Peters’ low-end bass rumble and dynamic drummer Vince Corsaro’s groove. And given such backing, Giffen’s guitars are like rocket launchers of sonic darts, a cathedral of cosmic cacophony too post-punk-toughened to float away in a navel-gazing narcissism or impressionistic incoherence. Perhaps that’s what makes them so formidable: they beat you up as much as cram your speakers with cloudy, starburst soundscapes. 10 years after their first release, Sleepover Disaster is suddenly the thickest flare of any band that ever lost years to The Cocteau Twins or MBV’s “Soon.” Like For Against’s latest, Shade Side Sunny Side, the well-named Hover is spectacular dreampop, breathing new life and volume into shoegaze’s enduring ghostly dissonance. Jack Rabid - The Big Takeover - The Big Takeover

*Fresno shoegaze trio The Sleepover Disaster have been going at it since the beginning of this decade, putting out increasingly tight and dynamic songs with each successive release. This upwards trajectory continues on their latest full length album, Hover; their first release on indie stalwart Devil In The Woods. Punchy songs like opener "Friend", "Tremble" and "Edward Said" display an early-Ride type of attack, with a full on assault of buzz-saw guitars and pounding rhythm. That's all good and well, but the band also has, in Luke Giffen, a vocalist with a real singing voice and actual melodic range, which raises Hover beyond just a standard shoegaze rehash. There's also several mid-tempo songs like "Dark Star", "Make You Sing" and the eight-minute closer "Songwriting For Dummies" which don't have the same immediately addictive rush as the faster material, but are still quite strong thanks to the band's highly developed instrumental interplay and sense of melody. In fact, I would think that even if The Sleepover Disaster were stripped of all their effect pedals and studio tricks, they could still probably come up with an album worth listening to. Not that I'd want them to....David Mansdorf (losingtoday.com) - losing today

*Time is one of those insurmountable obstacles, and there are thousands of bands stuck trying to get around it. Take The Sleepover Disaster, for example: If things were fair, Hover would have been hitting stores about 15 years ago.

The Californian band could have been huge: Hover, the band's first for Devil in the Woods, positions the band's big, blazing guitars at the height of the shoegaze craze. Singer/guitarist Luke Geffen sounds like he runs his guitar through miles of fuzz pedals and effects, playing through eight or nine speakers at one. It's the kind of guitar tone that dominates the album, wrapping your ears in a thick, fuzz-field fog that almost -- just almost -- obscures The Sleepover Disaster's ability to pen a heck of a pop song. Geffen's vocals are more in focus, and his vocals carry those same fleetingly simple melodies as The Smiths' early songs. It's pop, it's loud and it really, really could have been a contender in 1993 or 1994.

Shoegaze bands enjoy a bit of a renaissance these days, but Hover doesn't slip into those well worn forms. Instead of coddling the same My Bloody Valentine and Jesus and Mary Chain albums as its peers, Hover digs a little deeper for its inspirations. You're much more likely to be reminded of the days you fell in love while listening to Ride, Lush or Swervedriver; or maybe it's the time you nursed a broken heart with Ride, Lush and Swervedriver on repeat. It's just enough to create some separation from the band's nu-gaze peers.

Don't bother with The Sleepover Disaster if you plan to play it on your tiny computer speakers or through cheap ear buds. Hover is the sort of album that you need to crank to 10 and let its crashing waves of fuzz engulf you. "Funnel Cloud" whirls between a flurry of bass and guitar melodies that live up to its title, and straightforward stretches of pop song work. "Songwriting for Dummies" dispenses the advice "wrap it up in a melody" as the trio tunnels through dream-pop sparkle, crunchy overdrive and slinky Britpop influences; Billy Corgan would be well suited to pay attention, both to the band's lyrics as literal advice, and as a reminder of just what the Pumpkins were capable of in their prime. "Tremble" powers with an almost overwhelmingly low and loud bass, while Geffen's guitar glistens in the storm. It's almost as if Slowdive and Swervedriver never left us.

Time waits for no man, and, sadly, The Sleepover Disaster missed the era in which they could have played the part of rock gods. No matter. Hover is still everything we should love about shoegaze, no matter what its copyright date is. - R. Paul Matthews (aversion.com) - aversion.com