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March
1997 | Guitar Player
A peppy indie-rock guitar trio that carons from airy prettiness to fuzzed-out
rages-sounds about as groundbreaking as Die Hard VII. But New Radiant
Storm King, with their extraordinary dynamics, sudden-left-turn structures
and primitive-yet-perverse harmonies, remind us that you can always bake
new biscuits with the same old flour and eggs. Few of their tones or textures
are new, but the group deploys them with engaging drama, NRSK inclines
towards dreamy droniness peppered by a constant threat of aggression that
keeps you from zoning out. The discursive arrangements recall mid-'80s
Sonic Youth-not literally, but with the same unpredictable balance of
pop forms and abstract compositional concepts. Very Impressive.
December 4, 1996| Music
New
Radiant Storm King Delivers
I like the underdog. Maybe that's why I stay in this over-priced, urban
squalor. I like it when people have to fight to prove their point. I like
people who stick around even when everyone says "give it up" -then hit
you over the head with a masterpiece. Enter New Radiant Storm King's fourth
record" Hurricane Necklace" (Grass). It's easily the strongest record
they've released; it shudders with possibility. The band has long been
a Western Massachusetts secret overshadowed by neighbors Sebadoh and Dinosaur
Jr. With "Hurricane Necklace" this will hopefully change. The band's slippery
sound lets the guitar and bass trade off licks and weave in and out of
rhythm changes and mood swings. The instrumentation is eerie and evocative,
with a guitar introduction in "Maui" that all but shakes its head in regret.
In Storm King's case the only thing to regret is their lack of critical
attention.
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