Northern Liberties- Ghost Mind Electricity
(Badmaster Records BM011)
From Aural Innovations #39 (May 2008)
This engagingly eccentric Philadelphia band forges its own unique musical
idiom on Ghost Mind Electricity, a collection of 12 songs that explodes with
the aggression and velocity of punk but that haunts the brain with the hallucinogenic
intensity of psychedelia. Lead vocalist Justin Duerr howls with the primal ferocity
of a young, cocksure Iggy, while brother marc demolishes his drum kit at breakneck
speed. Bassist Kevin anchors both with his nasty, fuzz-drenched bass, which
he often plays with all the power and drive of Johnny Ramone, hence perhaps
the reason why Northern Liberties play sans guitarist. The group’s post-apocalyptic
vision and fractured, surrealistic lyrics (sort of like an unholy alliance between
Joy Division, Wire and Morphine) put them far above your garden-variety smash
mouth punk outfit, though. Songs like “Controlled by Voices from Beyond”
and “Psionic Sorcery Song,” with their cryto-Lovecraftean doom-mongering,
cut through the backbrain like a power saw on overload. The non-stop energy
the group consistently generates and sustains on the chilling “Emerald
Ghost Garden” and the blazing “Silver Fire” more than justifies
any compositional deficiencies the songs themselves might display. These anthems
for the holocaust are all strangely compelling and deserve a wider audience
than the group has up to this point attained. Northern Liberties’ psychedelic
punk is both innervating and thought-provoking and is a welcome respite from
the thud and gore tedium of thrash.
You can visit the band web site at: http://www.northernlibertiesband.com
Visit the record label web site at: http://www.badmasterrecords.com
Reviewed by Charles Van de Kree