Highly varied, noisy indie rock... hard to classify beyond that. Lo-fi but lovingly produced debut by this musically-sophisticated Oakland four-piece. Three members come from Alaska (brothers Cyrus and Nathan Tilton, and Mouse), one from New Hampshire (Ross Peacock). They formed in Oakland in early 2002. Various segments bring to mind David Bowie, Pink Floyd, Campag Velocet, Rage Against The Machine, The Beatles... but Ned synthesize and blend all these ingredients into their own freaky strangeness. Half of this LP engineered by Reto Peter (Morphine, Iggy Pop, Fun Lovin Criminals, Green Day). Recorded at RP's house and at John Vanderslice's Tiny Telephone. This is a deep album but you can start with 1, 2, 9. FCC: 4, 6. Band's website: http://nedquarters.com

=> 1. Slow. Begins with quiet morse-code & vinyl noise & backward vox. Then sparse guitar & keyboards, then BANG: full band comes in, heavy and understated but powerful, intense but opiated, sounding a bit like Campag Velocet. Me like. Ends with 38 secs of vinyl noise & strangeness, then abruptly goes silent.
=> 2. Mid-slow. Druggy, harmony vox and minimal instrumentation. Creepy and multilayered. You could dance to it if you were underwater and sufficiently zombified.
3. Mid-tempo. Symphonic, bombastic rock instrumental... vocals come in at 5 minutes. "Goodbye world, I'm leaving you today." Ends with feedback guitar. Cuts off suddenly.
4. FCC: shit & fuck. Mid-tempo. Lilting and odd with monotonous, loud, bell-like keyboards and mechanical drums.
5. Many tempo changes. Funky noise pop. Megaphone vocals: "Ladies and gentlement step right up, it's fun!" Dark, some weird monster-like vocals. In spots like Rage Against The Machine or The Beatles' "I Am The Walrus." Ends abruptly.
6. FCC: fucking, fucked-up. Starts with quiet electronics. Denser bits reminiscent of Pink Floyd or David Bowie. Dense, symphonic outsider rock. Fades out and then there's ~40 seconds of very quiet sampled speech & music, then annoying click.
7. Mid-tempo, quiet, Pink-Floyd-like — falsetto vocals and sleepily strummed acoustic guitar. Stays quiet, and fades softly away but ends with a bit of acoustic noise.
8. Slow and noisy. Starts with a couple of secs of high-hat, then fuzz guitar and drums. Spoken vocals tell a weird story. Guitar stops and then track ends with several seconds of sythetic bird calls and keys.
=> 9. Mid-tempo. Novelty, gravelly, monotone spoken vox. "You can make me feel!" Very heavy bass. and retro electronic drums. Cool. Ends with quiet keyboards and a splash of noise.
10. Mid-tempo. Nice, loud percussion. Line dance, anyone? Mostly instrumental, semi-tribal, with splashes of caterwauling. Ends by instruments dropping out one by one.
11. Mid-tempo instrumental, also sort of tribal. Simplistic electronic percussion. Extra-heavy low bass. Various themes but no melody. Ends with solo keyboards.