SABALON GLITZ Ufonic 1995

by request

Discogs

Review by William Tilland

Part of the mid-'90s American post-rock scene which spawned groups like Tortoise, Jessamine, and Labradford, the Chicago-based Sabalon Glitz quartet creates music superficially of the shoegazer pop and jangle guitar variety, but rather than being inspired by contemporary guitar drone groups such as the British My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, or Flying Saucer Attack, Sabalon travels much further back into Kosmiche music history, paying homage to the sounds of early Popul Vuh and Pink Floyd. There's even a hidden track that reproduces a telephone interview between one of the band members and Rev. Frank Stranges, in which Stranges (an apt name) discourses on alien contact and the hollow earth theory. The twin guitars of Chris Holmes and Rob Kaeding lay down an impressive wall of guitar noise on occasion, especially on the dynamic "Superchaismic Nucleus," but the overall tendency is somewhat more laid-back. The discrete, tasteful use of a theramin and Moog synthesizer is another plus for the group, and it not only establishes the group's space music connection, but it also serves to keep them away from the predictable rut into which some of the shoegazer groups can so easily fall. 

Tracklist

1	Hammer Of The Witches	4:12
2	Time Traveller	4:07
3	The Forge Of Vulcan	2:15
4	Superchiasmic Nucleus	3:10
5	Forest	5:21
6	The Lonesome Death Of Elijah P. Woods	6:38
7	Dance Of The Firewalker	2:07
8	Ufonic	5:54