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Against all odds, there is still cause to be excited when skinny, white kids with Lyle Lovette hair discover feedback.
TV Ghost’s debut full-length, Cold Fish, is a truly raw, rock & roll cataclysm that stands as quite an achievement for such a young band. These Lafayette, Indiana residents drive with a youthful discord that shrieks like a freight-train covered with aluminum foil and thumb tacks.
The closet approximation I can afford TV Ghost is that of a Monks cover band collaboration between Suicide and Drive Like Jehu, fronted, from several rooms and closed doors away, by a really high Lux Interior. Or maybe even the B-52s.
At any rate, the paranormal reference is not idle. Cold Fish, the band’s first for In The Red, might be the score of a haunted house film in which tense, string-arrangements are sacrificed for an epileptic, noise-mare that sounds like, “Oh shit.” Jackson Vanhorn and co. phrase their art punk garbage with the care of a free jazz sax-man, expertly marking the difference between urgency and novelty. From opener, “The Consumption” on, Cold Fish is every bit as dangerous and well-crafted as a catastrophic mess can be.
Expel all doubt: TV Ghost have just pissed a much-needed and epic new line in the sandbox of bratty, noise-makers.
BUY IT. - Buddyhead
TV Ghost (the rotting cyber post-punk band from Lafayette, Indiana, not the spirit of Bob Hope) just released a new record on In the Red called Mass Dream. It’s the follow-up to their last record, 2009’s Cold Fish, which was also released by In the Red. But you already knew that, didn’t you? You tweet, you read the blogs, you don’t need me telling you this shit. You’re in the scene, right? You saw TV Ghost open up for Lightning Bolt in Brooklyn last year and you talked to the bassist after the show and he told you all about this record, when it would be released and by whom. You guys also discussed a shared interest in the philosophy of Sartre and the pros and cons of cut-off jean shorts.
Well guess what, kid, here’s a little somethin’ ya didn’t know but can pretend that you did. Them Indiana boys are heading out on a tour of the pure, just, and bountiful United States of America come the end of May. Speaking of places of bounty, the band kick things off in Detroit, Michigan and then slowly work their way South, taking in all that the glorious Midwest has to offer, from the gracious scenic plains to the out-in-the-open gay bashing. Ah, what more could you ask for? - Tiny Mixtapes
TV Ghost's 2009 debut LP, Cold Fish, is a maelstrom-- 10 hectic songs ripped out in 25 minutes. Stuffed to the seams with wiry guitars, trembling keyboards, crashing beats, and Tim Gick's mad-man warble, it has the creepy tension of a post-punk haunted house where the Cramps, the Scientists, or Pere Ubu might leap out from the shadows at any moment. The band deftly balances precision and abandon-- every moment sounds lunatic and unhinged, yet no track collapses into complete anarchy.
That abandon has subsided a bit on Mass Dream, which doubles the length of its predecessor despite having only one more track. That's by design-- Gick says that his intent was to "space things out more, let the songs breathe." And while I miss Cold Fish's farther-flung moments, the band has countered that loss with songs that are deeper and more open. Now, along with all the post-punk echoes rattling around, unexpected reference points pop up. At times I hear the enervated drama of Echo & the Bunnymen's Ian McCulloch, or the stridency of Ian Svenonius during his Nation of Ulysses days. And TV Ghost prove as adept at stark dread as they are at fevered bedlam, mirroring the the spooky air of Women's Public Strain.
Much of that air comes from Gick, whose vocal cracks and squalls guide each track toward a particular emotion, boldly coloring the sonic elements swirling around him. The resulting hues are often bleak-- as he puts it, "I look at the world around me, take what I don't like about it, and use that in my songs." But that desolation produces not resignation or depression, but a kind of desperate, coursing energy. Much like a scary movie, TV Ghost's stressed-out tales don't get you down, they get your heart beating. And even if the pulse of Mass Dream is not as consistently maxed-out as that of Cold Fish, it's no less excited.
The example I keep coming back to is a cut buried deep into the LP, "The Degradation of Film". It opens with ominous chords that conjure a creaky organ echoing through an abandoned castle. Those chords threaten droney hypnosis, but the band pushes back against somnambulism, their guitars tracing dementia while Gick does his best Vincent-Price-on-helium shiver. Still, the chords persist, tugging at the band like quicksand. It's a tricky balance, one that TV Ghost could've easily steamrolled with speed and volume. But Mass Dream isn't that simple. Its power may sometimes be primal, but its effect is pretty complex.
- Pitchfork
Discography
LP's:
'DISCONNECT' (IN THE RED, SUMMER 2013)
'MASS DREAM' (IN THE RED 2011)
'COLD FISH' (IN THE RED 2009)
EP'S:
'TELEVISION GHOST EP' (DIE STASI 2008)
SINGLES:
'PHANTASM B/W PANIC AREA' (SWEET ROT 2012)
'THE FIEND B/W PRODROME' (COLUMBUS DISCOUNT 2009)
ATOMIC RAIN B/W BIRD FLU' (DIE STASI 2007)
Photos
Bio
TV Ghost is an American psychedelic post-punk band from Lafayette, Indiana, formed back in December 2006, while several band members still went to High School. TV Ghost's original lineup consisted of founding members Tim Gick and Jimmy Frezza doubling up as lead singer/guitarist, Brahne Hoeft on keyboards and Jackson VanHorn on drums. They recorded their first 7" (Atomic Rain b/w Bird Flu) in early spring of 2007.
By the end of 2007, Jimmy Frezza had left TV Ghost to pursue art school and was promptly replaced by bassist Shawn Beckering aka Shawn Ghost. They recorded three more records (a self-titled 12 inch EP on Die Stasi Records, a full length LP Cold Fish on In The Red, and a 7 inch on CDR "The Fiend b/w Prodrome) and toured the U.S. extensively for the next three years.
In early 2010 just a month before recording their Mass Dream album Jackson VanHorn left the band forcing Brahne to pick up the drums and the recently returned Jimmy Frezza to take on the keyboards. They spent 10 days recording the album as three piece with Brahne pulling double duty as drummer and keyboardist while Jimmy sorted out the keyboards. They immediately embarked on a two week tour of the Southwest followed directly by a six week tour of mainland Europe.
Because of the high stress of the tour Shawn Beckering left the band shortly after returning home. They spent the summer rebuilding with the help of Tristan Ivas (the new bassist for the band and band mate of Brahne, Jimmy, and Jackson in previous projects), before jumping back on the Midwest touring circuit with the likes of the God Bullies in the fall of 2010.
In April 2011, Mass Dream was released. A full U.S. tour with punk band and label mates The Spits followed. And Another full U.S. tour in fall 2011.
In January 2012, just after recording the ‘Phantasm b/w Panic Area’ single for Sweet Rot Records (Released in May 2012) founding member and former drummer Jackson VanHorn, returned to the band as guitarist before embarking on a U.S tour with punk band, The Spits. Returning home and collectively deciding to take on a slightly different approach to songwriting, the quintet spent late spring and summer writing and demo-ing for the their third LP for In the Red.
In Fall 2012, the boys recorded the LP at The Hangar Studio in Sacremento, CA with producer Chris Woodhouse (Ty Segall, Thee Oh Sees, Wild Flag). A viceral and hypnotic, and an overall bigger and more constructed sound, the third LP ‘Disconnect’ showcases the bands best work to date. This spring, TV Ghost will play 35 Denton Festival, SXSW and a U.S tour with Oakland, CA based band Wax Idols. ‘Disconnect’ will see release in Summer ‘13 via In the Red Records.
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