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| Empire-Builder
7" reviews | Is
This Music?, June 2005 (Bernhard Bessing)
Empire-Builder
- "How the Mighty Have Stagnated" (Gringo)
"With Thunder! Thunder!
Thunder! doing the raw guitar thing pretty well on the flipside, our focus is
drawn to the 'Builder's first appearance in several years - and with their trademark
stop-start rhythms and driving guitars, it's good to have them back." 4/5 |
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Is., January
2001 (Paul Rauschen)
"This is good, really good. Sounding
like a bits of june of 44, polvo and unwound but retaining it's own character
completely and managing to sound glaswegian rather than american, which is unarguably
a good thing (who wants to see a band that sounds like an american band when there
are so many american bands that come and play here anyway). The band are taught
and emotional repetitive in an effective rather than a lazy way, discordant and
awkward like polvo at their finest. The lyrics are interesting (if a little hard
to hear), something you don't usually find with british bands influenced by touch'n'go
stuff (as this band obviously are), these bands tend to concentrate on being accomplished
musicians rather than all round good song writers: blame slint. Waters of the
orient and trade in fiction are the choice cuts on this 7" as I am vasco
da gama is a fairly dull instrumental which I 'm hoping isn't typical of their
other stuff." | Underpop,
December 1999 (Andrew Friendly)
"Debut single for this awesome Glasgow
three-piece who weave together atonal, spidery melodies and obliquely punctuated
rhythms to clean, considered, brilliant effect. Emphasis is placed more on creating
abstract structures rather than a wall of noise, but this lends greater depth
to the songs, you get the feeling they really know how to play with space and
silence, not every moment of every song is filled with every instrument, things
cut out and return when the song asks for it. Lazy comparisons have been made
by other people everywhere, and Slint has come up too many times as a reference
- any band who use a strange timing or a clean guitar suddenly sound like Slint,
when Empire-Builder and Mogwai (the other band 'accused' of Slinty tendencies)
couldn't be any more different. Empire-Builder are adventurous and experimental,
and for a debut single 'Waters...' is a sharp, fresh sign of life in a complacent
scene." | Broken
Violin #3, October 2000 (Claire Lim)
"Waters of the Orient
is an eerie starter but compels you to listen on. It's a slow and uneasy start
but cascades into a brilliant middle section. Trade in Fiction and I am Vasco
da Gama are also strong tracks and together the three round off a well-written
and highly listenable EP. Empire Builder is a great new Glasgow band to lookout
for, being a blast of creepy melodies and weirdly wonderful tunes." |
Paper
Cut, October 1999 (Marceline Smith)
"Gee, how do I describe this
record. This is how guitars are meant to sound, what they were made for. There's
so many things I love about this record: the time changes, the Xmas Steps riffing,
the menace, the quiet and the loud. The Xylophone. Just everything. I so want
to see Empire-Builder live and hear these guitars louder. You just don't realise
how much you want this record." | Fracture,
Issue 9 (Russell Remains)
"One of the best things I've heard on Gringo;
EMPIRE BUILDER tend not to noodle around as much as some of their other bands,
just going for straight stripped melodies and some crunchy staccato riffs in a
blend that really works well. "Waters Of The Orient" sounds remarkably
like BOB TILTON in their bare moments, those empty spaces, plucked guitars and
spoken vocals are definitely 'in the style of...'. The other two tracks plod a
little more than the opener, but "I Am Vasco Da Gama" is a nice slow-burner,
building up into pretty powerful stuff. Can't help but think music like this works
better in an album format, the atmospheres tend to lend better to longer time-scales
than a 7" can offer, but this is a good way to start." |
Jockrock
Fanzine, August 1999 (Stuart McHugh)
"Empire Builder seem to get
a bit of what I suppose is 'bad press' due to the perception that they're making
'math-rock' or 'post-rock'. Well, we should get this straight, what they're producing
is 'stealth-rock'. That's right - well, they said it themselves... in fact, they
seem to encapsulate a lot of what is part of the Glasgow 'sound' at the moment
- 'difficult' time-signatures, 'quiet-bit-loud-bit' dynamics, and rather too much
use of 'quotation marks' when people review them. 'Waters of the Orient' doesn't
have too much singing on it, but plenty of slightly askew fretwork, plus some
good blasting guitar which comes in unexpectedly. Rather creeps up on you in fact.
(Stealth, see? Ithengyou...)" | Record
Collector, August 1999
"Comparisons to Fugazi and Jesus Lizard have
been carelessly thrown around when discussing empire-builder, but this Glasgow
trio are walking an unpredictable path of their own. Drum lines that double-back
on themselves abruptly, icy guitar twinkling and occasional vocal announcements
raise this above the lowly level of the usual post rock scene." |
| Kerrang!
July 31 1999 (Ian Fortnam, with Tairrie B and Melanie Makaiwi of My Ruin)
Three Ks
"Empire-Builder tickle obtuse guitar lines, pick out unlikely
harmonics and craft sonic still lives with sadcore vocal understatements and rattling
incisive beats. It's the kind of experimental craft so beloved of the late-'70s
new wave set and a welcome breath of fresh air." Melanie:
"I Loved that. That's my favourite so far. I'll never play the guitar the
same way again."
Tairrie: "I have to painstakingly disagree. I couldn't
hear the vocals - and that guitar!"
Melanie: "That was cool, man."
Tairrie: "That was NOT cool! You're f**king insane. Melanie's had a long
day today and she can't differentiate between good and bad." |
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