Volcano! Vid #3.

 

"Long Gone" the third episode of the weekly series "Seed to Flower Thursdays with volcano!",  in which the band sheds light on the inspiration behind the songs off their forthcoming album, Pinata due out June 12th via the Leaf Label. Look for a new song and a new Seed to Flower video every Thursday from 5/3/12 to 6/7/12. Pre-order options HERE.

Volcano! Vid #2.

"Supply and Demand" the second episode of the weekly series "Seed to Flower Thursdays with volcano!",  in which the band sheds light on the inspiration behind the songs off their forthcoming album, Pinata due out June 12th via the Leaf Label. Look for a new song and a new Seed to Flower video every Thursday from 5/3/12 to 6/7/12. Pre-order options HERE. 

Volcano's New Video Series.

 

"Fighter" the inaugural episode of "Seed to Flower Thursdays with volcano!", a weekly YouTube series that will shed light on the inspiration behind virtually every song on Volcano's forthcoming album, Pinata due out June 12th via the Leaf Label. Look for a new song and a new Seed to Flower video every Thursday from 5/3/12 to 6/7/12. Pre-order options HERE. 

Volcano! Vid Getting Lots Of Views.

Volcano's indie-rock-singing-in-the-rain-richard-simmons-pseudo-ertoric video for "Africa Just Wants To Have Fun" is on the mainpage of YouTube today and getting a shit load of hits. Let the good times roll.

Volcano! Receive A 7.9 Review From Pitchfork.

Volcano!: Paperwork
[Leaf; 2008]
Rating: 7.9
Original Review

It may be easy to create an indie rock song that eschews structure for instrumental shock-and-awe, or reveals too much information in the lyrics, or pokes fun at messianic rock stars. Doing all of the above is rare, however-- as is making each stray verse or hiccup as arresting as the one before it-- but volcano! manage this on their second record, Paperwork, even better than they did on their debut, Beautiful Seizure.

The mercurial three-piece may now be more cohesive, consistent, and focused, but volcano!'s unpredictability is Paperwork's biggest strength. "'78 Oil Crisis" starts slow with incidental noises, but it settles into a streamlined, linear melody, until the intermittent spasms of guitar become almost calming. A theremin tone anchors the grinding and coughing of "Sweet Tooth" as it grows more paranoid and mechanical, and later makes an insistent earworm from bent-out-of-tune guitar notes. "Astronomer's Ballad" is a doe-eyed Spanish-language serenade that eventually devolves into tightly controlled chaos. None is quite as stunning as the graceful and evocative "Palimpsests", whose well-tamed fuzz-guitar line and increased patter of drums makes With's taps-like call to "wake up, wake up" seem like a test of strength.

The arrhythmic, stuttering beat and meandering melody of "Performance Evaluation Shuffle" is not the first song to send up cubicle culture, but few have sounded so suffocated and desperate. "Africa Just Wants to Have Fun" shows off the many modes of volcano! but flows more naturally than some of their other freewheeling material. The verse gradually builds to a brassy, step-ladder melody, which progresses to a damn-near funky staccato guitar line, as singer/songwriter Aaron With uses every bit of his elastic vocal range to lampoon Bono, most pointedly over the buzzing bass keyboards in its bridge ("Won't you make up your mind/ Are you bored or inspired... You're acting like Christ on the cross/ You look ridiculous").

As with many tracks on Paperwork, the floor drops out of "Tension Loop", but the percussion skitters along with impressive precision, never losing the pulse. The song emerges from gentle drums and a soft, busy guitar plucking, finally torn apart by jagged samples and electronic manipulation that go from pretty to hair-raising, while With's tempered croon grounds the song (with only minimal yodeling). "Slow Jam" (which is anything but) is the record's biggest gamble, a falsetto-laden ode to impotence.

Lord knows why "Kitchen Dance" ends it all with a half-sigh, offering all the band's tricks-- bi-lingual crooning, keyboards that go from whisper to scream, double-time drums that spike the pulse-- without any of the pacing, charm, or measure of the rest of the album. But without volcano!'s occasional over-indulgence, this record would be half as interesting. Even compared to the convulsive and ambitious pop of their better-established peers like Deerhoof, volcano! are set apart by their fearlessness.

- Jason Crock, October 9, 2008

Volcano! In The New York Times.

VOLCANO!
“Paperwork”
(Leaf)
Original post

The noisy, ferociously talented band Volcano! earns its name with its explosion of song: melodies within melodies, little harmony-rich sketches that could fuel another band’s entire track.

Yet “Paperwork,” this Chicago trio’s second album, isn’t all pleasure. Volcano! has absorbed a lot from Deerhoof, another band with a killer drummer and complicated songs that sound fresh, jury-rigged and seldom overthought. And it sounds as if this band has inherited some of Deerhoof’s anti-production too: Sam Scranton’s bass drum like a tabloid headline; Aaron With’s trebly guitar and dry-sounding vocals, mixed low enough to make the words indistinct; keyboards and electronics (from Mark Cartwright) used in nontraditional ways, sudden surges of ensemble sound that push everything into the red.

Mr. With uses his guitar for jolting or lilting single-note lines, rhythm scratches and noise. His voice is what sounds like a true lead guitar, stretching words and sounds into giant melodies, even when they are just in-between parts, embellishments or passing phrases.

As a singer he’s brave and extremely musical but sometimes hard to take — histrionic and affected, with a grating falsetto. The lyrics are full of insults and petty frustrations about office drudgery, spoiled rock stars and consumerism. Sometimes they’re sung in Spanish. Once, in “Astronomer’s Ballad,” this fits the song, a kind of Mexican country waltz. A few other times it’s as unnecessary as the punctuation mark in the band’s name.

BEN RATLIFF

Volcano! Review On Tiny Mix Tapes.

Volcano!
Paperwork
[The Leaf Label; 2008]
Styles: noise rock, post rock, experimental
Others: The Ex, U.S. Maple, Deerhoof
Original review

When we were first introduced to volcano! three years back, the initial boisterousness of their avant rock assault was disarming enough to earn them a place in our innovation-deprived hearts. Beautiful Seizure was everything an experimental rock record should be — difficult, unpredictable, and invigorating. Now, following a two-year hiatus, volcano!’s sophomore effort Paperwork has arrived as our latest listening challenge, and I am happy to report that there’s plenty reason to rejoice.

Although the band has maintained its restlessness and proclivity for outbursts, this new batch of compositions has a demeanor both more focused and melodic than their earlier work. Overall, the band seems to be enjoying working together as a tighter unit, and as a result, an almost funky quality emerges at times from the cacophony, as when "Africa Just Wants to Have Fun" ends with a breakdown that I imagine will inspire many a listener to unexpectedly and uncontrollably lapse into a shaking of the booty.

Sam Scranton’s drumming was always a major component of volcano!’s sound, but here, it’s nothing short of foundational. Right from the opening track "Performance Evaluation Shuffle," his ability to be simultaneously rock-solid and unhinged allows his bandmates to careen and wobble without the slightest sense of ever losing purpose. Meanwhile, Aaron With’s vocals and guitarwork, while still rambunctious, show more sarcastic bite and tunefulness. "Slow Jam" in particular seems an exercise in flaunting his admirable elasticity in both areas, a strange sex/love song where he comes across as a nerdy pervert constantly apologizing for overstepping his boundaries. With a little Timbaland tweaking, it could be on JT’s next album (or at least Har Mar’s).

It seems inevitable that, after a mold-breaking start, a band can only mature by finding ways of subverting form from within — breaking pop apart by more fully working within (and against) its contours. In this sense, Paperwork is a definite step forward, and though it’s possible that those who loved volcano! before might find this more "conventional" album less exciting, I’d be surprised if anyone called it less rewarding.

1. Performance Evaluation Shuffle 2. Africa Just Wants To Have Fun 3. Tension Loop 4. Fairy Tale 5. Slow Jam 6. ’78 Oil Crisis 7. Sweet Tooth 8. Astronomer’s Ballad 9. Untitled 10. Palimpsests 11. Kitchen Dance

by Dave Gurney

Volcano! are playing a few Chicago dates before heading over to Europe for a five week tour. The band has a record release show at the Empty Bottle on September 25th and a in-store at Reckless in-store October 5th at 4:00 PM.