creeping weeds
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creeping weeds

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"Creeping Weeds We Are All Part of a Dream You're Having"

The combination of dream-like surreality and blossoming indie pop is not a new one, but Philadelphia’s Creeping Weeds get the mix of wistful dislocation, gentle melancholy, and jangling, enveloping melodies just right on their debut album. Whether pursuing a soft piano-plinking elegy, as on the opening “Part of a Dream”, spinning out glorious summer pop epiphanies of “Eternity Is a Long Time”, or cranking the slow-rocking, echo-laden drift of “Billy Pilgrim”, the band incorporates a subtle layer of existential angst into its tunes. Alternative, better realities are just around the warped corners of the Creeping Weeds universe, but they are tantalizingly out of reach. As the band puts it in “Billy Pilgrim”, “Each time you wake up to find / You’re still alive / Stuck in real time / Without a trap door.” You might catch a whiff of Modest Mouse here and there in the stuttery rhythms that poke through wafting atmospheres of dream pop, or of Pavement in the slurred, casual intelligence of the words and slackened fire of guitars. Still, Creeping Weeds makes a very strong, very individual statement in this varied set of songs, which runs from psyche-glazed slow rides ("The Desert") to skewed folk melodies ("Old Country Home"). Definitely a band to watch.

- PopMatters


"Creeping Weeds We Are All Part of a Dream You're Having"

These days it pays not to think too much about the state of modern America. But, occasionally (and given the right blessed guitar hook), the picture shifts to a sunny suburban street – the kind that that Fred Savage used to ride his chopper down in The Wonder Years; the kind of place where bands such as Built to Spill and Sebadoh would create life-affirming sounds from inside a dusty garage. Romantic, yes, but there’s something about American indie that can still knock blocks off what we produce over here and Philadelphia’s Creeping Weeds are more than aware of the power of understated pop hooks.

Approaching their debut as if it is a cohesive body of work rather than a chance to splurge all their favourite tricks in one go, it makes sense that they open with delicate vocal harmonies and a bare piano, thereby introducing us gently to their unsettling world. The wonderful ‘Billy Pilgrim’ begins with a Frank Black-inspired acoustic strum, chopped up by stabs of electric guitar. A sense of entrapment drives Pete Stewart’s words but the music is so dense that his non-linear storytelling is secondary.

There’s a heroic pop sensibility to the musicianship, like the way drummer Chris Wirtalla bookends the chords changes on ‘I Wanted To Live (Die)’ with a simple punch of his toms. At times, their lo-fi folk will draw comparisons to Broken Social Scene, but there’s something more compact and focused in the way that Creeping Weeds construct their songs. ‘Our Country House’ manages to combine the two normally mutually exclusive qualities of humour and ambition as it swishes from simple folk to a stomp where, frankly, Stewart sounds as though he’s singing in the toilet.

But here’s hoping it was the downstairs toilet, next to the garage where, in my imagination, they rehearse, hang out and watch The Year Punk Broke on repeat.

- Drowned in Sound


"Creeping Weeds We Are All Part of a Dream You're Having"

Philadelphia's Creeping Weeds are a nightmare for a reviewer because there is just so much going on in the band's music. Well, let me humbly try to make sense of the madness contained in their debut record, We Are All Apart Of The Dream You Are Having. There is Built to Spill meets Modest Mouse hook-laden post-rock ("Billy Pilgrim"), Sunny Day Real Estate-esque emotional instrumental passages ("The Desert") and even a little good old Wilco-style alt-country ("Keystone", "Our Country Home" and "Wired Shut"). Although, there are clear sign posts in their music , that doesn't stop the band from sounding like their own entity. The jumps in style are completely organic. They simply play in different genres because they like to. What's so wrong about that? Every song sounds like the Creeping Weeds, which is a high compliment in these days where band's rely on their old Pavement and Gang of Four albums for their sound. No matter what hat they try on Creeping Weeds are catchy, soulful and a delight to the ears.

For those people who like their bands to wear many hats this a band for you. Also, it is for people that enjoy good old fashioned indie rock. Creeping Weeds could be making this kind of music at any time, in fact I had to check to be sure that this didn't come out in the mid 80's or early 90's, but luckily for us they are making it right now so you can go see them live. Good time music from good time people.

- The Owl Mag


"CREEPING WEEDS, "WE ARE ALL PART OF A DREAM YOU'RE HAVING""

Philly’s Creeping Weeds pulls from the pantheon of ‘90s indie greats—Modest Mouse, Built to Spill, Pavement etc. The cover of We Are All Part of a Dream You’re Having is a take on MC Escher-style staircases splashed with bits of vibrant pastel color, suggesting that the record, like the staircases, leads to somewhere not in the immediate field of vision—this isn’t your run-of-the-mill debut. The album comes across as very self-assured and authentic, paying no mind to buzz bands and current trends. Mangled guitars and drums engage in manic antics when there’s no melody to be found (“Derelict”), though the band can nail those as well (“I Wanted to Live (Die)”—which will certainly be on my next mixtape). But they’re just as likely to write a damn good folk song (“Our Country Home”). The self-deprecating name is a hoax, folks—these guys are blooming, bustling flowers, if anything. - Silent Uproar


"Creeping Weeds"

The Hot Horse! label on Fletcher Street created a monster in Creeping Weeds. Ever since their four-song EP I found the C-Weeds totally Pavement-esque. With one difference: Creeping Weeds are actually good. They're effervescent. Persnickety. Have an odd panache about them. And their full-length debut, We Are All Part of a Dream You're Having, jumps from hosting contagious songs with lumpy stomped beats and pastel-toned acoustic guitars to muzzy space rockers filled with dream-time singing. I'll even tolerate their didgeridoo on "I Wanted to Live (Die)."

- Philadelphia City Paper


"Creeping Weeds"

Tangled, jangled, complicated indie rock is the order of the day when this Philly band-on-the-move celebrates the release of its debut album We Are All Part of a Dream You’re Having. Following on 2005’s Long Way Down EP, this full-length is rife with taut pop gems. “Eternity Is a Long Time,” for instance, builds razor-y architecture with staccato guitar, then slips daydream vocals about “tiny teardrops” over the top in a mix that’s both anxious and soothing. Like a less strident Oxford Collapse, and just as upwardly mobile, Creeping Weeds make love-sick jitters close to beautiful. - Philadelphia Weekly


"Creeping Weeds, We Are All Part of a Dream You're Having"

If you like a band who is overtly a little bit weird then Creeping Weeds are a good addition to your collection. Their psychedelic album cover for We Are All Part of a Dream You Are Having is the first giveaway that they might be a little bit on the outlandish side. The second giveaway is the opening track. “Part of a Dream” is a distinctly creepy lullaby sung in hushed and monotone voices over an out-of-tune piano. It’s redundant and nightmarish and it sounds nothing like the rest of the album in the least bit. But no two songs on the album sound anything alike; that's part of the charm of Creeping Weeds. They are eclectic and eccentric, but not over the top…. Well, maybe a little over the top, but holing yourself up underground in isolation during the writing process will do that to you.



The rest of the album is a bouncy mix of everything including Americana, indie-pop, experimental rock and all the while it remains highly saturated in undeniable folksiness. Although the album is relatively lo-fi, it doesn’t give off the dirty and unpolished lo-fi vibe.



Creeping Weeds pushed themselves to create something original with We Are All Part of a Dream You Are Having. It was an honest shot at creating something new, but no matter how honest, it seems impossible to create something totally original. The blatant influences of Pavement and Neil Young kind of blow their cover. The Creeping Weeds are a solid band, though, and we must remember that even the most original artist pulls inspiration from elsewhere.

- The Red Alert


"Creeping Weeds, We Are All Part of a Dream You're Having"

It's been awhile since I've heard a release as delightfully straightforward as We Are All Part Of A Dream You're Having. That's not to say that it's simple or bland, but as a reviewer who's constantly hearing all manner of electronic music, post rock, shoegaze, and just about everything else, sometimes it's nice to sit down to an album that makes no bones about being good old indie rock music. Comparisons to Modest Mouse, Built To Spill, and even Polvo come to mind, as Creeping Weeds have created a full length debut that sounds like it could have come out any time between the early 90s and now.

Following on the heels of an EP by the group, the full length takes a few more instrumental liberties and actually sounds the better for it. Opening track "Part Of A Dream" is just what you'd expect from a great introduction track as dreamlike, overlapping male and female vocal parts twine together with a piano melody that gracefully turns into sparse guitar notes towards the end. "Billy Pilgrim" follows, and it's here that the aforementioned Modest Mouse comparison seems particularly apt. After starting with a strummed acoustic guitar, the track layers in the rest of the instrumentation as peculiar, but evocative lyrics wrap around guitar-driven rock that's alternately crunchy and more playful.

"Eternity Is A Long Time" also has that upper-Northwest (even though the group is from Philly) indie rock glide as more layered guitars coil and spring nicely while being filled-out with analogue synth in places. In a couple places, they do veer from more traditional structures, and most of the times they pull it off nicely. "I Wanted To Live (Die)" plays things more loose and fun with acoustic guitar and lighter drumming (along with some subtle digeridoo). Just about the time you think the track is going to keep going with hand percussion and softer instrumentation, the group lets loose with a wail of scalding guitars that buries everything.

The rest of the album is filled out with everything from shorter instrumentals like the quad-guitar interplay of "Time-Lapse" to excellent songs like the seven-minute "Derelict." The latter is especially a highlight, swerving through three different sections of power pop that throws weird little bursts of everything from sitar to overdriven vocal passages into the mix. With plenty of hooks and only a couple unsteady songs, this is an excellent little debut album that's should appeal to fans of any of the bands mentioned above.

- Almostcool.org


"Creeping Weeds, We Are All Part of a Dream You're Having"

I wanted to love this CD. For starters, it had the DIY look of an Urban Outfitters catalog, with hand-lettered type and the sort of doodles I made in my high-school chemistry notebook instead of dutifully learning what a "mole" is. Plus the title We Are All Part of a Dream You're Having immediately brought to mind The Unicorns' Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone? and the platinum-selling Good News for People Who Love Bad News by Modest Mouse. "This will be so cool, hipster!" the CD seemed to promise. And cool it is, beginning with the first sparse piano track entitled "Part of a Dream." Pete Stewart's sing-song vocals rival the angst-y goodness of Modest Mouse's Isaac Brock, only with a girl thrown in the mix for haunting good measure.

The anticipation for the second track is paid off with "Billy Pilgrim," a swirling rocker about the time-traveling soldier-protagonist in Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five. While Creeping Weeds cites Pavement and Built to Spill as influences, the Philly band's "Billy Pilgrim" actually reminds me of "Fascination Street" by the Cure. Halfway through the song, a rocking guitar solo leads to a jarringly unnecessary breakdown with a heavy-handed echo effect. But a hand-clapping bridge that begins with the lyrics "True place does exist in a universe parallel to this world is such a mess" brings the song back to its original dreamy groove.

Even after several listens, my favorite of the 12 tracks on Creeping Weeds' debut album remains the third, entitled "Eternity Is a Long Time." From the first note of the catchy guitar riff, it will remind you why you like indie music so gosh-darned much. Jangly guitars! Plaintive lyrics! Creeping Weeds, I'll even forgive you the didgeridoo on "I Wanted to Live (Die)." Normally, that infernal contraption would prompt a quick move for the eject button, but somehow it works. The instrumental sixth track "Time-Lapse" serves as a quietly meandering intermission that leads into the overly long, yet enjoyable "Derelict." Then an unexpected jolt of foot-tapping goodness and soaring, melancholy storytelling follows with "Our Country Home."

The sound experiments on We Are All Part of a Dream You're Having don't always work (refer to the unfortunate echo incident in "Billy Pilgrim" and the downright irritating "Nightmares"). Still, Creeping Weeds are just the sort of band you could picture Natalie Portman's Garden State character Sam rocking along to on her headphones. Will Creeping Weeds "change your life," as Sam insisted the Shins could do? I doubt it. But if you enjoy folk-influenced, multi-layered, joy-tinged indie-pop, this CD will find its way into your musical rotation and, like its namesake, stubbornly refuse to be uprooted. A
- Playback:STL


"Creeping Weeds (Everything In Due Time)"

There's a gift hastily wrapped in this clean package for those looking for it. Somewhere within lies the yearning of a younger J Mascis, playing smaller shows with the knowledge that it's for the greater good. Teetering on the slippery slope that indie pop song-writing can become, Creeping Weeds balance between genres while maintaining their footing. Nothing is rushed. Stylistically, their psychedelia/folk roots may show more than even they would expect. Pete Stewart's knack for a Modest Mouse inspired breakdown is difficult to ignore.

As albums go, "We Are All Part of a Dream You're Having" plays like a wandering conversation with an interesting stranger. The dialogue may circle around, but there is never a time when it feels lost. Creeping Weeds shows the patience to let their songs develop, it's the spaces where this LP excels. The truth is, a bands popularity is mostly based on a few songs and a reputation. Let's take a collective look in the mirror, you are two songs away from replacing that Broken Social Scene T-Shirt with a Creeping Weeds one.
- Musicisnotdead.com


Discography

"We Are All Part of a Dream You're Having" - full length - Hot Horse! (2007)

"creeping weeds" - EP - self released (2005)

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Bio

The band is currently recording the follow-up to their 2007 debut long-player, We Are All Part of a Dream You’re Having. That record generated critical praise on both sides of the Atlantic from the scribes at drownedinsound.com and popmatters.com, among others. For a complete press list, visit http://creepingweeds.com/press.htm.

We Are All Part of a Dream You’re Having was recorded by the band in the basement of a school in Philadelphia’s Chinatown neighborhood. Here’s what was said about it then:

“Creeping Weeds get the mix of wistful dislocation, gentle melancholy, and jangling, enveloping melodies just right on their debut album….Definitely a band to watch.” (Score: 7)
-Pop Matters

Philadelphia’s Creeping Weeds is just getting started, but it’s a hell of a debut…”
-Pittsburgh City Paper

“Easily some of the best music to come out of Pennsylvania in the past year…”
-Centre Daily Times

“This full-length is rife with taut pop gems…”
-Philadelphia Weekly

creeping weeds pull off their swirling sonic dreamscape live with focused energy and an assortment of instruments including a glockenspiel, didgeridoo, auxiliary drums, drum machine, plus the two guitar, bass, keyboards and drums foundation. They have shared the stage with national acts such as Dirty Projectors and Jeremy Enigk.