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Impure Reviews |
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Impure Reviews |
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www.wrappedinwire.com
4/16/02
Impure cd review by Darklight
This four man band states that none of the music provided on this recording was done by synthesizers, samplers or digital manipulation of any kind. This is due to the fact that upon hearing the music contained here you might assume that it was.
What is delivered here are dark and cold experimental alternative rock songs with clean untreated somewhat high pitched male vocals. The music is made up of interestingly played guitar, bass and drums. These musicians make their instruments create sounds I did not know were possible. I have to admit that it’s nice to finally hear a rock band doing something different with their sound for a change.
Some tracks are mid-tempo while others are fast paced and energetic. So there’s definitely a good helping of variety here. And some songs such as “Double Image” have radio hit written all over them. This band deserves recognition. Because they are finally something fresh in the alternative music scene.
Skyscraper #10
Jan/Feb 2002
Impure cd review by Joshua Gabriel
Much like Babyland, Crash Worship and Collapsing New Buildings, Stendhal work within and around the framework of composed dissonance. Utilizing power tools, oscillators, movie dialogue, obscure rhythms and warmly subversive melodies set on enveloping its audience rather then intimidating them. Unlike the more popular and equally linear nature of second tier experimental brethren Skinny Puppy or The Tear Garden, Stendhal reiterate a clear sense of compositional prowess, dictating their sounds capes and enhancing Impure's seamless accord. Without proper song writing ascription the band remain casually mysterious, leaving us scent to worry about ephemeral jargon insisting instead un our attention on the whole unit. Under which, the percussive confluence and technical acumen surges beneath a torrent ethereal landscape clasped with shimmering keyboards, prickly guitars and sinister piano passages. Granted, while Stendhal consumes its listeners with a spiraling wash of calculated freakouts (a la Red Crayola or Cromagnon) the theatrics are tempered with echoes of new wave enthusiasm (a la Jesus and Mary Chain or contemporaries Aerial Love Feed). Curiously, the latter half of the disc redirects its stylistic vantage point, shifting into sweeping shoegazing arrangements paired with obtuse power chords and a pulsing rhythm section. Rarely are artists mining parallel territory so completely, fleshing out its arrangements with imminent hooks, memorable vocals and crystalline production. Stendhal implies proof that throughout experimentation and serendipitous discovery can co-exist and create life among the ruins. (Joshua Gabriel)
Buzz Newsletter
January 2002A great Noise/Industrial/Goth/Experimental band known as Stendhal that is based in Philadelphia, Pa. These guys use anything and everything (yes, even the kitchen sink, I think) to record their latest full length release "Impure". This 11 cut CD takes the listener on a sonic journey that explores the boundaries of this genre. The beats and rhythms are punctuated by the crashing and smashing of different objects, be it the guts of a television set, traffic light, or hand-held AM radio, or whatever they wanted to use. This release is interesting in the fact that this listener never heard each song the same way as before. Fans of this genre be sure to pick up a copy of "Impure".
Legends Magazine
http://www.legendsmagazine.net
August 2001
review of Impure by Mike VentarolaStendhal's CD Impure could have easily been subtitled "Dare" simply because that is what they did. This four-piece outfit didn't strive to create a formulaic album with pretty choruses and glittering lyrics. Instead, they defiled every inanimate object known to man, and like the Blue Man Group, created order from the chaos. They utilized no synthesizers, samplers or digital manipulation of any kind but rather enmeshed the sound of guitar and bass that were put through the rigors of banging and bowing and wove them through a strange cacophony that included everything from metal detectors, oscillators, televisions, and scrap metal.
The Boat Song darkly opens like some ill-fated ship lost at sea. The noise effects give rise to an eerie soundtrack quality. Guitars are abused to reach the right note within the parameters of disorder. 4th Passenger tends to have an alien quality to it. The song embraces the future with its stark sounds, catchy off beat rhythm and midnight quality vocals. Think Gary Numan meets Bauhaus. Double Image delves into a more goth rock friendly style song, clearly demonstrating that this band is quite capable of creating club friendly songs if they had to. In the break, we are once again treated to a sonic world that this band hears and interprets. Even if one is not too keen on avant-garde expression of sound, one cannot help but be amazed at how well this band expertly layers each tone.
Third Person Singular almost segues from the last song with guitar licks that are a tribute to every underground band that has come before them. This track harkens back to the early stages when punk was evolving into goth. Every Night takes a recorded voice and white noise and places it within the parameters of a heartbeat style rhythm. The lyrics are sung over this in an odd mix that resonates with the emphasis of the forlorn. Tundale veers again into the realm of early punk/goth with added background bonuses that one is hard pressed to identify. This is a haunted track full of kinetic energy.
Lucky 7 seems to emanate with an Asian influence with the way the intro portion of the song utilizes what sounds like cans and bottles, each clanged with a tonal intent that works well. Legend Song segues from the previous track with militaristic beats and guitar chords that are from the school of early Bauhaus and the Joy Division. The song leaps from the CD, almost demanding to be considered a classic, which it certainly deserves to be. Lord Dufferin starts a shoegazer style track that opens with 2 guitars and a drum, metronomically keeping time with the vocals, which then segues with tougher sounds to coalesce into a dark rock track.
The Girl With The Purple Face brings us into a mild reverie with sounds that are also backward masked at the opening. This track also works as one that would be club friendly to some extent because it pulsates with great energy between the somber moments. My Life To Live opens a haunted style piano instrumental that seems to have been recorded from a timeless past. Dialogue samples are layered under the music, indistinct, but adding to the element of mental reflection. Once again, the band utilizes sound to reflect the pervasiveness of technology replacing our memories and emotions.
Had Stendhal only created an album full of cacophony, their talent would have been highly suspect. However, they defied the laws of music by utilizing objects to create tones that work harmoniously in their songs. Much of this work is reflective of the early punk/goth transition, yet with the added machinations of objects that were never meant to be used as part of a music venue, they clearly brought the underground world full circle.
In a world where every 20 years everything old is new again, Stendhal pays great homage and does justice to the early roots of the punk/goth hybrid era. That is not to say that this is an album steeped in merely borrowed elements of that period. Instead, they have taken all that was great about that time, added some expert touches, utilized additional sound effects and handed us what could be a glorious future for the underground musical movement.
Stendhal demonstrated that a band does not need fancy gadgets to create something new and innovative. They took sound from the world around them, or tweaked it out of objects for the desired results, culminating in an album that is well done, thought provoking and entertaining. The work may not be to everyone's taste due to the somewhat experimental nature that is woven within the songs. However, fans of early underground work as well as "noise" fans, will find that it is a refreshing album.
Seventh Circle
http://www.seventh-circle.com
January 2001
review of Impure by Sparrow
Based out of Philadelphia, this foursome has attracted some attention from fans and other bands alike with their very original and impressive latest release "Impure". This is their first full length release and before I even sat down to review this and fully explore it's musical depths I had heard praise for it from other bands that the Seventh has reviewed in the past...so I was looking forward to it even more.
Stendhal harkens back more to the early days of the movement (hell, I can even hear some influence from King Crimson at times) rather than trying to compare them to any modern acts as they experiment more with a physical sound than something that is computer generated. I've heard remarks that they use everything from big metal oil drums to metal detectors straying from the use of traditional drum sets which should make their live show something to experience.
"Impure" is a collection of very well put together songs with smooth vocals and imaginative music to back that up. They are even able to include songs that have "hook value" which is something that is usually hard to do with the music that they put forth (Double Image and the Legend Song are good examples of that). I'm a huge fan of any band or artist that tries to push boundaries with their music and Stendhal are one of those without a doubt.
Rockpile
January 2001
Volume 7 Number 1
review of Impure by Mark Ginsburg
Sailing in with strange noises and seemingly random beats, squeals and static reaching out and clawing at the frontal lobes, there is an immediacy to the way the opening track on this disc builds. "The Boat Song" is an instrumental, which slides easily into "The Fourth Passenger", an edgy and eerie tune with some of the most hypnotic percussion ever devised. Each song on this strange and wonderful disc oozes magnificently into the next. Vocals slither beautifully around the guitar and bass. "Double Image" features an interesting and appealing little sax solo, while "Third Person Singular" displays a tense and mesmerizing relationship between each player, as if they are reaching out and then pulling away, trembling. Stendhal is a striking mix of gothic, industrial, and experimental influences, transcending all to make a unique and glorious noise.
Philadelphia City Paper
December 7 - December 14, 2000
review of Impure by Helen H. Thompson
"Johnnygoth" Yorio, guitarist for locals Stendhal, recently described their sound as "sonic terrorism." While that may conjure images of the sort of antitonal distortion fests that drive the pulse of the hardest industrial tunes, Stendhal’s fury is a heck of a lot more musical than that. Their inaugural disc, Impure, is remarkably un-digital, with a heavy horror influence. Distorted bass, spidery guitar giggles and a percussion array that includes such demented additions as a bent-up one way sign and a provocatively miked water cooler bottle help yield the astonishing result of an ambitious resurrection and update of a sound that peaked in early ’80s London. It’s a welcome break from over-programmed, over-sampled "underground" music that’s never two steps away from techno, and from so-called alternative music that’s hashed from a static formula unchanged since 1989. Evocative and infectious, Impure has a beguiling energy that demands your attention.
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