 |
|
|
 |
|
|
Ornamented and troubled, competent and moody, VOLTAGE balances on a sea of divergent priorities.
At once caught between the chaotic pull of the noise community and the human urge to rock the party,
VOLTAGE has trouble being identified as a rock band, but nonetheless craves the structure and ability to create
concrete and beautiful works that are not lost in showmanship and flash.
More influenced by Bach and
Timbaland, but often compared to Hella and Don Caballero, and more likely to buy records by Tyondai
Braxton or Terry Riley, VOLTAGE believes that a healthy dip in pretense is better than a G n' R cover,
at least 90% of the time. Believing that the-emperor-must-always-have-his-clothes-on, VOLTAGE concerns
themselves deeply with pushing and retooling the structure of their songs and their very instruments
themselves on a regular basis.
Two-piece and instrumental, VOLTAGE hails from Chicago. Erik Schwartz
and Todd Bailey are the longest-lived residents of the dirtball underground performance space that was
Camp Gay, and have spent their time immersed in outsider music for the last four years. Bailey has worked
at the Empty Bottle as a soundman, and has seen the world touring as a hired ear with Califone, Brokeback,
and Elefant. He has rebuilt mixing consoles at Tortoise member John McEntire's studio (Soma) and been
commissioned to build public electronic toys for the Chicago Children's Hospital. All of these efforts
have come as spin-offs of Bailey's most heartfelt work - the design and creation of new electronics that
can change the nature of composition and performance.
Live, Bailey plays a vacuum-tube based synthesizer
of his own design which is controlled by a modified guitar, and occasionally appears with a touch and breath
sensitive analog synth, an interactive jewelry-controlled sequencer (inspired by the works of G-Unit, et al.)
or a Commodore 64 computer. On the other end, you will find Schwartz playing a drum kit of his own concoction,
consisting of a Frankenstein assortment of marching and rock drums, a glockenspiel, battery operated motors,
microphones, and more recently, a laptop configured for live sampling. Schwartz spends much of his time off
the court developing his own line of basketball sneakers, the E-1s.
Problematically referred to as a noise band for rockers or a Hella for the ladies, VOLTAGE has it in to prove
that innovation, on a good day, can be accessible or even exciting. That thoughtful (though not necessarily
somber) composition is the key to working otherwise disparate elements of music into a cohesive whole. VOLTAGE
strives to be dynamic, musical, weird, and buried. VOLTAGE loves and values emotion, technical competence,
and feel.
In the past VOLTAGE have toured or played with (and like) Parts and Labor, Tyondai Braxton, Death from Above,
Pit-Er-Pat, Metalux, Make Believe, OOIOO, Tracy and the Plastics, & the Quails. An upcoming fall tour will be
Voltage's third - and their first with Chicago label Flameshovel.
|
|
 |
|
|
CMJ Music Monthly "While Voltage's technocratic wizardry puts them at the head of the class, their spazz-jazz
is sure to win the hearts of high school AV club dorks and Don Caballero freaks alike."
Kill The Noise "A immediate suggestion of Voltage's musical inclinations comes to mind: either arty indie or
arty post-rock, the key word being Arty."
Splendid "Erik Schwartz and Todd Bailey, the men behind Voltage's arsenal of homemade electronic gadgets, have
functioned on the fringes of outsider music for the past five years, and their pedigree in weird can't help but inform
Building the Bass Castle's labyrinthine post-rock concoctions."
Chord "The album is an instrumental in the best way - it is completely open to the listener's interpretation."
EM P Me "Find this album. Listen to this album. Devote some solid listens to it. ...[I]f you give it the time
it deserves and you enjoy it you have found a record you will be listening to 10 years from now."
FunTime Ok "Hailing out of Chicago, Voltage may be the next great experimental band." "They both use heavily
modified equipment to make music that sounds kind of like a cross between Tortoise and Lightning Bolt, while retaining their own
innovative edge."
The New Scheme #13 "This is a really thoughtfully constructed and intricate record which is just familiar enough
and just abstract enough to seem fascinating during the first listen, as well as months later."
Philadelphia Weekly "They come armed with equipment both modified and homemade, emerging with untitled jigsaw
compositions that breathe and breed in a way so few wordless outfits do." - Doug Wallen
| |
 |
|
Right Click on Image and Select "Save Link..." to download 300dpi photos
First four images by Emma Rodewald & MUST be credited upon use
Copyright 2005 Flameshovel Records
|
| |
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
Buliding the Bass Castle Vol. 1 CD
(DIG030)
Released 10.18.05
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
