User Profile

I'll full disclosure here. I haven't paid much attention to Lightning Bolt since "Ride The Skies", which I think I checked out at a minimum of 10 years ago. At the time, I was probably gorging on some sort of easily digestible dream pop or what have you and just couldn't crack the noise nut of that album.

After seeing some positive reviews of "Sonic Citadel" I figured I'd drag my weary 54-year-old ass back into the fray and give it go. I mean, I do have a soft spot for the "2 guys making a racket" set-up (I'm a fan of Japandroids, DFA 1979 and No Age) and this presented itself as a grimier, hyper-aggro variation of those indie bands. And I must say, a very non-regrettable decision was made as this is a really, really good album.

From all accounts that I've read, this is the first of theirs to "embrace" melody in their songwriting. And comparing it to the confrontational abrasiveness of "Ride The Skies" (my only frame of reference) it seems like a pretty welcome evolution. What's on here is no radio-friendly sell-out by any stretch of the imagination, but it cops some of the tricks Parquet Courts used on "Wide Awaaaaake!" by integrating some recognizable riffs to give them something to work with, in LB's case to hang their massive amounts of hurricane-level noise on. "All Insane" is probably the most accessible of the bunch, sounding like Melt Banana covering Interpol. But for most noiseniks, the highlight is going to be the 9-minute closer/assault "Van Halen 2049", which, just to let you know, has 0% Van Halen in it, and if there is any in there, it's been so deconstructed that it's totally unrecognizable.

And a hat-tip for the Hüsker reference. Recommended.

I don't really get the general disposition to shit on anything that Frank Black Francis releases under the Pixies brand. (For that matter I don't understand the abuse Rivers Cuomo gets either, but that's another discussion altogether) It's what, almost 30 years since FBF dissolved the band? And people are still waiting for another "Doolittle"? Just because it has the Pixies name on it? What planet are you people on? Sound?

Anyway, anyone going into this expecting more than a Frank Black solo album with some Pixie-ish window-dressing is borderline delusional. The tracks on "Beneath The Eyrie" all follow the standard FBF songwriting template (bent nostalgia with a heart of pop), but they're just informed by a 54 and not 24-year-old's perspective. And that's a critical point. Comparing this to Pixies 1.0 is like me saying that your mom was really hot when she was young. It's so not getting it on so many different levels.

"Beneath The Eyrie" is no classic by any means; but it's a really solid album with two terrific singles in "On Graveyard Hill" and "Catfish Kate" supported by plenty of above-average ("Daniel Boone" especially is proving to be a grower) tracks that add to its replayability.

If you've liked FBF's solo stuff, this ain't much of a deviation. Honestly, I'm not altogether sure the necessity of calling it Pixies considering it doesn't make much of an effort to court or advance the Pixies' sound, not to mention both Joey Santiago and Dave Lovering have played on his solo albums and, well, Kim Deal is nowhere to be found. But I'm sure he had his reasons and they ultimately should be irrelevant as giving this album the fair shake it deserves doesn't depend on any of them.