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Manticore - Review by David Owens for Flipside magazine (Issue 12) Warm-hearted post-rock symphonies soaked in an exultant, soaring voice with drama and passion cutting a swathe through the dazzling atmospherics, Manticore is like a collision between Portishead, The Psychedlic Furs and the Smashing Pumpkins - twisted music with a widescreen agenda. Lowcraft's filmic music revolves around a maelstrom of a soundtrack ('All The Rage' and the single 'Transcendental Meltdown') with Nathan Khyber's snakelike voice at the eye of the storm. Rock 'n' roll shot through with artful romance, dark and unnerving yet joyous and uplifting, this is imaginations on fire, led to the city limits and ordered to set up home there. Manticore is music with staying power! One Of Us - Review taken from The Knowledge, January 1999 "U.S. band Lowcraft come from Portland, Oregon, they release 'One of Us' as their debut for up-and-coming label Disco Volante. A synth -ridden, uplifting track with mid 70s Bowiesque vocals and shiny 80s production. It's new romantic meets glam rock as the influence of Ultravox, Marc Bolan and Roxy Music are all evident. On 'One of Us' Lowcraft extract the best from the past and stir in a 90s edge to make a splendid musical compound. Their album is due later this year and the band should give the likes of Pulp and Radiohead a run for their money!" Fun With Flashlights - Review taken from The Knowledge, May 1999 "After their acclaimed debut single, 'One of Us' - Lowcraft release 'Fun With Flashlights'. It's a beautifully fragile track with psychedelic Beatle-y strains and lead vocalist, Nathan Khyber's swoony honeyed vocals. Perfect classically constructed compositions and just the right amount of flamboyance, mean that Lowcraft are set for big things. The tracks 'Trembling' and 'Before the Ending Comes' complete the line-up." Review taken from Flipside Magazine - May 29, 1999 "Another variant on the "Dear Prudence" blueprint, "Fun With Flashlights is a wicked prowl through vaguely Super Furry territory. Nathan Khyber's delicious voice flirts with Hunky Dory-era Bowie while the lyrics, all 'Bright suns' and' Aliens', are your typical psychedelic bobbins. Check the glam stomp in the chorus for some top-notch, "All The Young Dudes"-style seventies action, all mixed up with some progged-up astral keyboards. Keep an eye on Lowcraft". Review taken from Kerrang! "Anyone who stumbled through narcotic hazes with the Dandy Warhols last year will be happy to shack up with fellow Portland preeners Lowcraft this summer. "Fun With Flashlights" is The Beatles and Marc Bolan ripped off their tits on three strains of acid during the 'Summer Of Love', and as such is a wickedly dreamy slice of psychedelia with louche vocals from the exotically named Nathan Khyber. Transcendental Meltdown - Review taken from Melody Maker - 14 August 1999 (Melody Maker Review by Robin Bresnark and Hepburn) Robin Bresnark: Wilder than a rabid chipmunk with electrodes on its little furry 'nads singing Suede's 'Trash'. In Dutch. Or just a bonkers, drugged-out Bowie impression. Pretty ace, though. Beverley: It sounds like Oasis, or maybe Mansun but it's a bit average, a bit of a drag. Sarah: I'd like to hear some of their other stuff. This is pretty good. Jamie: He's got a pretty good voice, but the sound doesn't really do much for me. It doesn't give me goosebumps...more, um, pigeonbumps! - Review taken from The Knowledge "The release of 'Transcendental Meltdown', Lowcraft's third single follows the success of the band's UK tour. It's taken from the band's debut album, 'Manticore', due out in late August. This big and brash track will make you want to turn the stereo up loud to check out those mean guitar riffs and Nathan's entrancing vocals. Three new tracks complete the package, all with equally intriguing titles such as 'Strictly Chemical' and 'Porn Star'". Live Shows The Borderline - London (First Melody Maker Live Review) Review by Sean Price for Melody Maker Repeat any word long enough and it ceases to make sense. Try it. Bowie. Bowie. Bowie. Bowie. Bowie. Lowcraft's cool-as-milk lead singer Nathan Khyber must find those two syllables particularly meaningless, as he must have them coughed up in his face every time he opens that carefully curled mouth of his. Unavoidable, really. You see, Lowcraft do sound a bit like the grand old dame himself. And, in their own minds, Lowcraft have already gone triple platinum and actively ache for a return to the quiet life they enjoyed before fame soured their souls. This is their comedown, Billy Liar screwing up his eyes amid the becalmed wreckage of Bowie's "Low" and struggling to remain upright. Current single "One Of Us" is a limp-wristed swoon, a flicked fringe and provocatively cocked hip in the pockmarked face of dull rawk. "Transcendental Meltdown" sears, despite that terrible title, snatching breath away like a sharp blast of cheap scent. Lowcraft are shallow, mannered and insincere, nothing here that we haven't heard a thousand times before. So what? It might be mere mimicry, but they crib their poses with such style that it really doesn't matter. Recognising the redemptive charge in a self-obsessed yet understated glamour, Lowcraft sparkle like the flash of a razor. I close my eyes and I can't believe it's not Bowie. The Falcon - London (Melody Maker Review) Review by Julie Glassman for Melody Maker Shock horror. The Yanks do Britpop - or is that Britrock, or even glam rock? In these intimate confines, every onlooker stands mesmerised by both the vocal mastery of Nathan Khyber and his effortless rock star presence. This semi-androgynous singer, more meaty than Brian Molko, bears an uncanny resemblance to a post-diet, pre-make-up Eddie Izzard, but with an overtousled multi-streaked art school bob and suit. He's a pro at coy, flirtatious glances. However, both his song introductions and lyrical presentation (an Elvis-style mutter) induce bewilderment in the audience and are prone to indecipherable episodes just waiting for reinvention on "Never Mind The Buzzcocks". Yes, there are references: mainly Bowie. "All The Rage" sees Bowie-esque consonant repetitions. "A place where we can go-wo-wo-wo" afloat on rippling, moody guitars. "One Of Us" is the Thin White Duke with noisy T-Rex-style glam guitars. The glitter-glam tones of Marc Bolan and Roxy Music's Bryan Ferry can both be distinguished, most distinctly in "Flashlight". In more tortured moments, such as "Happy", Khyber even reawakens the lost spirit of Jeff Buckley. A rare event indeed - an American band veering away from college radio-friendly guitar pop and invading the British music scene with a sound that originated on our side of the pond. A twisted baring of the soul with which Thom Yorke could empathise, sliced through the throat with a conniving seediness. It's as low as you like it. Misc "Maker Breakers" - Melody Maker Article by Robin Bresnark for Melody Maker Who They? Nathan Khyber (vocals), Keith Sommers (guitar), Brady Woodcock (guitar), Peter Noone (bass) and William Lagrand (drums). Five prophets from Portland, Oregon, with the ambition and scope of 50, like the American Ultrasound with a delicate touch masseurs would kill for and enough electronic enhancements to make the Six Million Dollar Man blush. "We're high-tech, low-brow," suggests Nathan. Why Buy? Because petty theft from record shops is still deemed a criminal act in this country...and you'll definitely be wanting a piece of this. "We're all just so damned good at what we do," sniggers Nathan. Then, somewhat less facetiously: "It's all about shooting high and hitting something just below the mark." The mark in question being Bowie's charismatic best, Suede's silkiest dreams and Radiohead's most debauched, twisted, adrenalised, frenzied fantasies. Tell Us More... Nathan's first memory is lying in his crib with a mobile dangling overhead playing "London Bridge Is Falling Down". Eventually he ended up working as a picture framer, "before I became a notorious rock star!" But, of course. "You lose your faith in people's having individual thoughts," he adds. "Every other person would come in with f***ing 'Water Lilies' by Monet. I mean, Jesus Christ!" Since then, original thoughts have been Lowcraft's bread and butter. Check their new single, "Fun With Flashlights", for proof, a creamy rush of melody-mating melancholy. "It's rainy day glam music," hums Nathan. "Although that might mess your hair up and ruin your make-up." Best Listened To... Yes, it is. It really is. Article by Paul Elliot for Kerrang! Who: Glam-rock nancy boys from Portland, Oregon - an unfashionable place halfway between Seattle and LA They Sound Like: The Smashing Pumpkins playing David Bowie. With titles like "Porn Star" and "Transcendental Meltdown", Placebo fans will be swooning. How You Can Hear Them: Debut single is out on January 11. A full album follows in the spring. Article taken from Oregon Live "Lowcraft proves that high concept will fly..." Lowcraft knows the two essential rules to making pop music: Everybody steals sounds and attitudes from everybody else, and it's best to steal them from as high up on the musical food chain as possible For instance, the Lowcraft take on Bowie-meets-the-Beatles is automatically a better approach than if they tried for a melding of Gary Glitter meets the Dave Clark Five. It's not as simple as taking a bit from column A and two from column B and calling it a song, but members of the band are familiar enough with the approach to be able to reel off in unison, "Bowie meets the Beatles meets Pink Floyd meets Duran Duran meets your mom." Mom was unavailable at press time to confirm or deny her influence on the band, but at least the guys are getting used to coming up with snappy answers to silly questions from the press. Good thing, too, because Lowcraft is shaping up to be a contender in the Next Big Thing sweepstakes, and the band may be facing a lot more situations where it'll have to explain what they do in 10 words or less in the near future. Having started out under the name, "Absinthe" two years ago (due to copyrighting problems, the group decided on Lowcraft in October), the band has released an EP (that material will make it's way onto the group's debut full-length CD) and shot a video for the song "One of Us." Friday marks Lowcraft's last U.S. show before leaving for Britain in a week. The as-yet-untitled disc will be out on London's Disco Volante records. Although Lowcraft inarguably is a Portland band -- dating back several years to singer Nathan Khyber's and guitarist Keith Sommers' partnership in Portland's Tales Untold -- they're essentially based in London for now because that's where the label is. "We went with Julian (Palmer, Disco Volante's chief) because he was the only label guy we had met who really got it, who got what we do," Khyber says. What they do is construct polished swirls of melody and what Sommers refers to as "ambiguous sounds," that is, from instruments so heavily treated and altered there's no telling what they started out as. At some point the listener stops hearing guitar notes and, the band hopes, just hears pretty sounds, divorced from specific instrumentation. Most of that texture is provided by new bass player Peter Noone -- no relation to the Herman's Hermits singer-- who triggers a series of foot pedals as the band plays to replicate the eerie, looming sounds of the CD. Noone replaces original bassist and producer Clark Stiles. "Clark did a great job on the record, and he's pursuing a career in production here in Portland," Khyber says. The CD kicks off with the song "Inch Away From Heaven," showcasing Khyber's bent for swooning falsetto vocals, and from there it's all a whirlwind. Going from the moody waves of petulance on "All the Rage" and the stylish exercises in '70s glam-rock of "Transcendental Meltdown" and "Avalon," the band finally winds down to the sonic excess of "Porn Star," clocking in at a nearly epic seven minutes. With the CD being released in Europe this spring and in the United States in the fall, Lowcraft is a group to watch closely. Big things seem to be in the offing for them, a fact they are fully aware of. "Come out to the show and fall in love," Khyber says. "With us or with each other, we don't care." Article taken from The Knowledge Lowcraft Take a dose of H.P. Lovecraft (opiated, hyper-surreal situations), cook it up with a pinch of the breeze left over from a daring flyby. It's intangible, there and gone. Glance at the peeling and defaced posters of Marc Bolan and David Bowie on the wall of the men's room in the Waterfront Union Hall, reminisce on the glory of the best psychedelic moments of the Beatles. Cast your mind back to Jeff Buckley and the day he jammed with the Psychedelic Furs. Take four individuals collecting in Portland Oregon, blending their experiences and focusing their talents in a concerted energy that none of them had felt before. Take the voice of an alienated angel floating in space over layers of tight rhythmic invention, alternately melodolic and chaotic guitars, synth abstractions and drifting bursts of white noise. Combine the crash of resounding glory with the burn of contorted discord, subtract all doubts and you will find Lowcraft. Press Release - Manticore After an extensive and successfull debut UK tour and three singles, this is Lowcraft's debut album: Manticore, due for release in the Autumn. From Bowie to psychedelic Beatles; this is pure melodic androgeny. Each track transforms throughout with ballsy and fully-grown transfusions of soaring, uplifting guitar riffs and futurist abstract synths, each ending with an intuitive meltdown of the senses, enhanced by snakelike, sensual vocals from vocalist Nathan Khyber. Lowcraft calmly submerge you in warm, clear-blue water. They race you around on a rollercoaster and then brashly invite you to bed... The group was recently described thus:
distinctively British flavour to their post-glam rock. Imagine that David Bowie hadn't become obsessed by drum'n'bass music, could still pen a decent tune and had a band that played with all the 90's psychedelic guitar swirl of Radiohead..." - Kerrang! | Prior to hitting the big time, lead singer Nathan Khyber worked in a picture framing shop and at Toys 'R Us, among other fine jobs. |
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