Carjack.

"Carjack: Sounds like the Stooges played through an Atari. What's not to like?"
- MotorCityRocks.com, March 2007


"Carjack: A One-Man Freak Out band from Detroit."
- The Detroit News , October 2007


"Carjack: Blips and fuzz. Guitars on Atari. Guitari? "
- The MetroTimes, March 2007


"Carjack: ElectroRock version of the one man band who is aided and abetted by an army of Robots! Elements of rock and dance collide with an outrageous and over the top stage show! Its like a video game where you play a punk guitar player who has to fight disco dancing robots in the near future of 1986. Definitely one to watch!"
- Lager House (Detroit, MI), June 2006


"Carjack: Carjack has become bigger than one man with a drum machine; not only do numerous toy robots join him on stage, but it has become an idea a vanguard of genre defiance, filled with plenty of crazy antics, a psychedelic journey into the depths of punk-rock coleco-vision: fusing breakbeats, trashy guitars and Joust samples into the same song."
- Real Detroit Weekly, August 2006

VIDEO: http://motorcityblog.blogspot.com/2008/01/video-carjack-crofoot-pike-room-sat-jan.html#links
- Various

by jeff milo, May 2007, featured in Real Detroit Weekly

"I actually got a concussion when I was in second grade jumping off my bed listening to J. Geils' Freeze Frame," says Lo Fi Bri, scratching his chin over his kitchen counter after dumping out a box of 80 mini-discs he'd filled with original material over a ten-year career of home recording and experimentation. "That was the first LP I ever bought. I guess I got a little bit excited."

He replaces a battery in one of his robots, while seven feet away stands a literal wall-of-sound: four rows of shelves housing more than a thousand vinyl LPs. "Since I was five, I've always been fascinated with sound. I used to rock my parent's big, '70s-style headphones as a kid, listening to all kinds of hand-me-down records."

Lo Fi Bri, tall, mild-mannered, clean-shaven, dons a tweaked, freaked-up alter ego on stage — Carjack — a smart-mouthed, time traveling, taco fueled, avant-garde punk pushing electronic buzzes and blasting magnetic beats, rumored to have crash-landed from the ex-planet Pluto with an army of robots. Some Frankenstein-ian creation of hard, shredded guitar riffs with hollow, heart-filled beats from a drum machine … the punk of American underground with wavy synth-melodies over hammering, hypnotic breakbeats.

"Outta college, being an avid record collector, I was fascinated with the DIY lo-fi movement (of the early-'90s). So I bought my first Fostex four-track recorder and that catapulted the whole thing. I didn't even own a guitar, nor could I play one and definitely not a drum machine yet. So it began — hours and hours of recordings, experiments, sounds, melodies and a crap load of Memorex cassettes … basically learning to play instruments as I learned to record."

A relentless kind of chaotic-freakbeat monstrosity that guillotines genre fixations and just goes for broke, Carjack is a captivating component of Detroit's music community bringing a refreshing, tongue-in-cheek, Atari-time-warp charm, with plastic robots set atop his amps … like an Ultraman-breakdance-party.

"Ultimately," Bri says, "it's fun, unique and completely from another planet … literally … Carjacking the hearts and minds of Detroit." - Real Detroit Weekly

March 9, 2007

BY TIM PRATT
FREE PRESS SPECIAL WRITER

The lowdown: Carjack is a ferociously tongue-in-cheek one-man robo-punk band, the brainchild of Lo-Fi Bri.

He draws inspiration equally from 1980s-era punk rock artists like Black Flag, Detroit techno luminaries like the Electrifying Mojo and video games like Ms. Pac-Man. Oh, and there are toy plastic robots that maneuver around the audience during Carjack shows.

The sound: Catchy, fuzzy punk rock guitars with propulsive electro beats, self-effacing vocals and 8-bit video game sounds from the '80s, using old, analog equipment to give it a noisy, "dirty" sound.

"I enjoy creating and fusing sounds together to make something completely new and unique," Lo-Fi Bri says.

Carjack has performed as a solo artist for a little more than a year, in small rock clubs and bars in the Detroit area. Carjack is all about the D.I.Y. (Do It Yourself) style; he packages and sells his self-recorded CD in floppy disk containers from the '80s.

Blowout thoughts: Expect some craziness at Carjack's live performance: "You'll see a tall, lengthy humanoid flailing around with antics galore, masks and the occasional toy robot attack," he says. "The purpose of my live show is to tear down the barriers between rock and electronic music, as well as break down an audience's preconceived notion of what one man (or one humanoid) can do."

"I'm super-stoked to be playing Blowout. I'm going to make it the most memorable experience ever for each and every spectator," he says.

Blowout show: 11:30 p.m. Friday, Knights of Columbus Lounge, 9632 Conant, Hamtramck. 313-871-8888. - Detroit Free Press

by Jeff Milosevich, Real Detroit Weekly, August 2006

"Ive always loved big beats, punk rock, and weird electronic sounds. A hyper-evolved, mutant breed of music geek, Lo-fi Bri (aka Carjack) is Detroits unknown indie-rock institution, with a pre-recorded catalog of basement B-sides from home sound experimentation over the last 12 years on analog four-track and mini-disc, learning to play instruments while simultaneously learning to record. Self-effacing, yet swaggering, loose but with technical delivery, with bizarre, yet appealing antics, like watching the Superfriends meets Yogi Bear; the tall, lanky Lo-fi shakes his ass on stage almost as much as his audience rendered helpless by the explosive, beat-laden, one-man avant-garde electro rock.

Im trying to destroy your stereotypical show expectation: Im doing it with electronics but Im doing it natural and Im making it sound like a whole band, Carjack said.Raised in the burbs of Detroit in the 80s, he was exposed to a variety of influences: I used to score crappy dubs of dubbed tape cassettes of Black Flag, Minor Threat and Dead Milkmen from my skate punk buddies and then I used to listen to the Electrifying Mojo on WJLB and watch the New Dance Show on Channel 62 at night.


Carjack has become bigger than one man with a drum machine; not only do numerous toy robots join him on stage, but it has become an idea a vanguard of genre defiance, filled with plenty of crazy antics, a psychedelic journey into the depths of punk-rock coleco-vision: fusing breakbeats, trashy guitars and Joust samples into the same song.

As the man and robot that is all things Carjack, the man himself explained, I constantly like to explore new ideas, sounds, songs and visuals to present to the crowd. I like to keep everyone guessing and entertained at the same time.


Dont miss the Jack."

http://www.realdetroitweekly.com/article_1749.shtml - Real Detroit Weekly

by jeff milo, May 2007, featured in Real Detroit Weekly

"I actually got a concussion when I was in second grade jumping off my bed listening to J. Geils' Freeze Frame," says Lo Fi Bri, scratching his chin over his kitchen counter after dumping out a box of 80 mini-discs he'd filled with original material over a ten-year career of home recording and experimentation. "That was the first LP I ever bought. I guess I got a little bit excited."

He replaces a battery in one of his robots, while seven feet away stands a literal wall-of-sound: four rows of shelves housing more than a thousand vinyl LPs. "Since I was five, I've always been fascinated with sound. I used to rock my parent's big, '70s-style headphones as a kid, listening to all kinds of hand-me-down records."

Lo Fi Bri, tall, mild-mannered, clean-shaven, dons a tweaked, freaked-up alter ego on stage — Carjack — a smart-mouthed, time traveling, taco fueled, avant-garde punk pushing electronic buzzes and blasting magnetic beats, rumored to have crash-landed from the ex-planet Pluto with an army of robots. Some Frankenstein-ian creation of hard, shredded guitar riffs with hollow, heart-filled beats from a drum machine … the punk of American underground with wavy synth-melodies over hammering, hypnotic breakbeats.

"Outta college, being an avid record collector, I was fascinated with the DIY lo-fi movement (of the early-'90s). So I bought my first Fostex four-track recorder and that catapulted the whole thing. I didn't even own a guitar, nor could I play one and definitely not a drum machine yet. So it began — hours and hours of recordings, experiments, sounds, melodies and a crap load of Memorex cassettes … basically learning to play instruments as I learned to record."

A relentless kind of chaotic-freakbeat monstrosity that guillotines genre fixations and just goes for broke, Carjack is a captivating component of Detroit's music community bringing a refreshing, tongue-in-cheek, Atari-time-warp charm, with plastic robots set atop his amps … like an Ultraman-breakdance-party.

"Ultimately," Bri says, "it's fun, unique and completely from another planet … literally … Carjacking the hearts and minds of Detroit." - Real Detroit Weekly

Cut & Paste. And Enjoy.

http://motorcityblog.blogspot.com/search?q=carjack - Detroiter / MotorCity Blog

CARJACK

Who: Lo-fi Bri, guitars, drum machines, samplers, vocals, masks, antics and the occasional robot fire.

What: Lo-fi Bri describes his music as "Electronic robo-rock" — but that appellation undersells it. His shows consist of a dude — masked to one degree or another — freaking out to the inputs of sound created, transmitted, found and accidentally and purposefully mauled. He finds experimental edges without losing rawk power, accomplishes a great deal of cacophony without sacrificing head-bobbing and scratching structure, and still manages to keep the attention of a bar full of fans and mooks alike, with antics and enthusiasm that are infectious. A devotee of audio discovery, Carjack's roots lie with the '90s indie rock of outfits like Brainiac and other left-field lo-fi heroes of the Midwest.

Why: "For my own amusement," says Bri. "I've been writing and recording songs since my very first four-track recorder purchased back in 1994. I've always enjoyed experimenting with sound. I have tons and tons of songs and ideas on plenty of tapes to last me for like four careers at this point. I just finally got the guts and the interest to play out live in the past two years."

Where: Ferndale, via the ex-planet Pluto.

Killer quote: "Literally into my first song, my buddy overheard one biker say to another 'Why don't we say we throw his shit on the front lawn. How about it?' Now that's a quote and that's punk rock. Ha-ha!" — Carjack on playing at the legendary biker hangout, oldest-standing bar in Detroit, the Stone House.

Life-changing record: "My brother and I used to listen to the Electrifying Mojo a lot when we were young."

Essential listening: Carjack EP 2003, BoomBox EP 2003, Carjack Sampler 2006 (limited edition: First 100 copies featuring handmade 5.25" Floppy Disc Artwork.), Planet of the Amps (recording it right now at home. Release date, label TBD)

Web site: myspace.com/carjackband

— Chris Handyside

1 a.m., Friday, March 7 — The Belmont, 10215 Joseph Campau; 313-871-1966. With Chris Richard & the Subtractions, Ancourage and Friendly Foes.

http://metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=12529 - Metrotimes Detroit (by Chris Handyside)

Cut & Paste. And Enjoy.

http://motorcityblog.blogspot.com/search?q=carjack - Detroiter / MotorCity Blog