Bastion Of Itchy Preeves

Finally we got this in at the station, and I’m cyked. Why? Because Cerberus Shoal is one of the most inventive unique musical experiences that is out there today. These guys have been churning out masterpieces since the mid 90’s starting as and instrumental leaning post-rock outfit and slowing changing personal and morphing into a freaky-experimental-free-folk-spook- band (I made that genre up) with plenty of dramatics, moodiness and rhythm (Oh the percussion this band creates in mind boggling) for any music lover. Often compared to the Sun City Girls and rightly so, they’ve been working with the SCG’s producer and collaborator Scott Colburn for a couple of records now. What you will find here are songs, beautiful and odd in their own right, but part of a larger picture. This record was recorded before their last release “Chaiming” and serves as a marker in their growing and changing musical climate. CB’s music sounds like an initiation ritual to some cult you will never find. Many songs could be played continuously if desired. This is a great band!!!!
–tHE bAWd oF eUPHONy

1*(5:33) Distant bells and shimmering build. A slow drone forms into melody like the wind picking up intensity. The storm is coming!
2**(8:03) Creepy Marimba and wiggly guitars. Full-on chorus of vocals slowly begin the story
3**(13:08) Weird robot (they seem to like robots) and quick start and stops bend into a drunken groove that seems like a fragile rock chant. Shifts into a steady groove. Awesome arrangement. Very Talking Heads at times.
4*(2:04) Bizarre noises and percussion swells. Builds into next track
5**(5:00) this will give anyone nightmares. Weird sample starts. Jews harp starts us. Turns into an EVIL chant-like stomp with lots of gasps for breathe. Perfect for Halloween! Builds to a crazy intensity!
6**(3:40) Fuzzed out intro of the song, into another stomp. Great feel, very drunken Tom Waits percussion. Great vocals! Love it!
7**(13:51) Long craziness. Single tone intro, bass pulse slowly creeps in with wiggly guitars (I like to wiggle do you?). Banjo builds it, vocals in a foreign language start. Song kicks, awesome. Very Eastern European in feel. Proggy middle, back to swing. Vocals are just outstanding! Beautiful ending. Aw man, this is the shit!
8**(10:30) Swirly figamagigies. Crazy laboratory sounds in a toy box. Bass melody enters. Switches to sound of can being crushed (odd) over weird samples. Then we faze into what begins a fucking heavy crazy percussion build that explodes. AWESOME!
9**(6:37) Spooky vocals. Great guitars and drums rock it. Gets pretty heavy
10**(6:40) Bass/Guitar melody, very reminiscent of old Cerberus Shoal. Moody and open. Beautiful. Descends into toy box nightmare. Crazy! With robot voices again. I feel cooky.