Phratry Records

Phratry EP

admin — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 23:51:00 +0000

Most people can’t play an instrument, but Lauren K. Newman (also known as LKN) can play at least five. And she plays them all on the same album. This one-woman band has released her fourth album through Greyday Productions. Her most recent, Postulate II, was also reissued on vinyl by Phratry Records complete with a bonus eight track EP to the first two-hundred lucky buyers.

LKN stays true to her punk roots on Phratry EP by reflecting the sounds of her four previous albums. The popular music scene always seem to be lacking in strong women that rock as hard as boy bands do. LKN chalks-up a point for the ladies’ because her self-made hardcore music is experimental and edgy. Highlights include the piano dominated final track appropriately titled “Piano” as well as the more feedback heavy “Premonition,” which is worthy to be on the list of the selections for the first edition of Guitar Heroine if it ever comes out.

However, LKN still has some room to grow. Luckily, what she lacks in scope she makes up for with talent and ambition. A quick search for her on the internet yields a lot of information and reviews about her. This is a good sign that she’s hungry and putting herself out there as much as possible. She gives concerts frequently and when she takes the stage, she calls herself LKN and dubs her playing as both solo and with accompaniment. Let’s hope her progress is as aggressive as her sound.

Written by: Sara Custer, April 15th 2009

Knife the Symphony EP

admin — Sat, 26 May 2007 18:17:00 +0000

By Knife the Symphony

Phratry Records

I was having a particularly foul day when the Knife the Symphony EP arrived. I distinctly remember being angry at music, and wishing I had something new to listen to that didn’t bore the crap out of me. It was as if someone from Feminist Review was reading my thoughts, and I threw on the five song EP immediately. I’ve never been a huge fan of indie rock, but this band is enjoyable and not terribly monotonous as others as the same ilk. It sounds like their inspiration could be drawn from bands as The Minutemen, Joy Division and even Zounds, at times. The most notable of the tracks might be "Summer’s Decay," which evokes a late nineties post-punk spirit reminiscent of “Paranoid Time” on quaaludes, or a lost Sonic Youth track. Geez, that sounds pretentious. Then again, most music reviews do, so I don’t feel that bad.

Though depressing to listen to on repeat while eating an entire box of cereal in bed, pining for your lost childhood, I’m sure under normal listening circumstances, you won’t want to knife the listener. Grab a walkman and go for a jog; you’ll thank me later.

Written by: Janine Ohnoski, May 26th 2007

Four Songs

admin — Thu, 03 May 2007 01:13:00 +0000

By Blue Velvet

Phratry Records

This New York-based instrumental sextet is unlike your typical rock band. Experimental and percussive in approach, Blue Velvet’s image is organic and minimal: Their music has no vocals, no electric bass, no standard rock-drum kit and no loops or samples. Is it then worth listening to? Hell …Yeah! “Docile 1” and “Docile 2” from their EP Four Songs has a Hitchcock-style to it: strings cut harshly and are repetitive, producing a drony and eerie quality. Definitely music suited to a scene in the classic Psycho. “Untitled (Two)” resembles these tracks, but is less grating and more perplexing in its use of instruments.

As if to declare their oddness, the artists in “Blue Cannon” thread a sound that is inconsistent with the above three pieces. Folkier, it’s gentler on the ear and can be placed within the blues genre. With the exception of this single, it’s easy to picture the album accompanying a psychological thriller as the music imagines an atmosphere of suspense, danger and confusion; its rhythm and fast tempo lingering long inside your head.

The band’s desire to be regarded as real and natural is reflected in its prettily printed cardboard CD case - also known as a discfolio. The whole package is adorable in its simplicity.

Their influences are The Zombies, The Velvet Underground, Sonic Youth and Tony Conrad, among others. The record is noisy, strange, interesting and distortion-free. Four Songs challenges the boundaries of convention – all the more reason to give this post-rock band a chance.

Written by: Payal Patel, May 2nd 2007