Military Special
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Military Special

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This band has not uploaded any videos

Music

Press


"City Pages - 12/8/08"

Some parents read books aloud for the edification of an unborn child. Others play Mozart, or meditate. Judging by their outstanding breakthrough full length, Military Special's parents were playing Mega Man 2 until dawn with the volume all the way up. Dancy and energetic and bratty, their pleasures are immediate and long lasting, and they seem like the very products of a bedroom cluttered with sun-warped Plasmatics 7 inches, glitchy cartridges of Dr. Mario, and empty cases of Mountain Dew. Caffeinated and feral, these are the kids who sat too close to the T.V. and tried to read in the dark and came out clean on the other side.

http://blogs.citypages.com/gimmenoise/2008/12/military_specia.php - citypages.com


"City Pages - 10/1/08"

If the songs on the Military Special EP sound familiar, it's because we've seen these guys before. Songwriter Joe Schweigert and guitarist Peter Blomgren were previously in Look Down, one of the first bands to be signed to the local Afternoon Records label. Schweigert is taking things in a new direction with Military Special, adding electronic nuances and more adventurous vocals to what was once a fairly straightforward style of indie rock.

The EP clocks in at just over 25 minutes, but in that time the band explores a surprising amount of sonic territory. Opening track "Warrant Error" showcases Schweigert's expressive, yelping voice and recalls other local bands like Hockey Night and Tapes 'n Tapes, while "Phantom Culture" is almost Devo-like in its synth hooks and catchy melody. The album has a few too many instrumental, electronic breakdowns for my taste, but I can see this band appealing to fans of both experimental electronica and danceable rock 'n' roll.

http://www.citypages.com/2008-10-01/music/fall-cd-review-roundup - citypages.com


"Rift Magazine - 7/31/09"

The internet says music criticism is dead, and the shuttering of several large-scale music magazines is an inarguable illustration of this. People have tuned out all the erudite nerds venting their opines and arbitrary tastes because, they say, people now make up their own minds on things readily available to them for free. People don’t need a review when they have no stake or difficulty in retrieving the thing instantly and finding out for themselves whether it appeals to them or not. Fair enough.

So: whyfore I type? Well, because Military Special deserves it. They are a very good band. A very good band that you will like. A very good band you will not regret seeing in person. Sure, you know what I’m about to do: describe their sound, maybe some background info (older bands, maybe the city they grew up in, maybe some musical touchstones), and end with a snarky or heartfelt one-liner. It’s not hard to see why music criticism has floundered, considering how predictable it is. That said, I present to you an entirely original take on music criticism:
militaryspecial.muxtape.com

http://www.riftmagazine.com/?p=833 - riftmagazine.com


"City Pages - 12/18/08"

Military Special have charted their own detour around the monolithic digital divide, that gulf of wires and pixels that separates the circuit from the soul.

[They] have been sweeping up plenty of kind words, thanks a signature sound that finds Joey Ramone and David Bowie staying up far past dawn to finish Kid Icarus, switching off every level. They are energetic and determined, and their music is benevolence in a gleaming minor chord which never fails to menace a crowd into a dance pit.

http://blogs.citypages.com/gimmenoise/2008/12/beatrix_jar_and.php - citypages.com


"Rift Magazine - 9/25/08"

It could just be my birth-decade nostalgia talking, but these guys are a catchy thing. They’ve carved out a definable sound, consisting of an early-aughts indie songwriting approach in satellite around 80’s timbre, trembling drum machines, and a digressive groove one-footed in funk. They put to good use the always-great Afterburner guitar tone; all compressed flange distort coupled with dance rhythms.

What we’ve got here is scratchy lo-fi rising to a bombast straight of out Silverhawks. Petulant pubescent-register vocal sing-hollering with lyrics leaning towards barely serious – maybe barely joking – admonishments of our staid culture, keeping the background busy and steady with a stream of electronic piany ambience and drum machine step-steps, pushing the songs forward until jumping into the forefront. And rarely does a drum machine fit a band so well.

When I heard this record, I not-so-immediately thought of the defunct Hockey Night (1:04 of “Accountability” mayhap?) and the long ago Tapes ‘n Tapes demo, and lo, from a Pulse review of their old band: “If you listen to our record, all of our major influences at this point are people that we know personally,” says Huestler [not in Military Special], “like Hockey Night and Malachi Constant.” Those influences are still present here, except more pronounced for being telescopically further from the sources.

Who the fuck cares? Coming from their old band Look Down, who released a record on Afternoon, home to many local shiners, these guys apparently decided to go for funny-bone bittersweet hits and tongue-in-cheekiness. And it worked. Military Special are their own beast, and I imagine are destined for attention. For all the worries and tryings that occur in the pursuit of rocking, Military Special apparently worried more about defining their sound than bringing the noise, which was broughten regardless.

http://www.riftmagazine.com/?p=285 - riftmagazine.com


"Northern Outpost - 3/27/09"

Military Special enters Owl Studios to record an exclusive feature with Northern Outpost:

http://northern-outpost.blogspot.com/2009/03/episode-7-military-special.html - northernoutpost.net


Discography

Civil Union (LP) [March 2009]
Military Special (EP) [September 2008]

Radio:
"City Lights" on NPR [March 2009]
"Warrant Error" on NPR [August 2008]
All songs nationwide on indie/college radio

Photos

Bio

Military Special has quickly become notorious for their rollicking sets of electric party rock—and for spreading their unique brand of beer-fueled mayhem across the grain belt.

Founded officially in 2007 by former bandmates Joe Schweigert and Peter Blomgren, the band went through several different permutations in its earliest days before settling on their current, six-member crew. James Shaff has played with the band since its inception, and Charlie Smith since they began playing live. Danell Norby met Schweigert while studying in Amsterdam in early 2007, and joined the band a year later. Matt Robshaw became the band's third drummer in 2008, following Geoff Freeman and Jake Hartnett.

Though they have been compared in the press to Bloc Party, TV on the Radio, and LCD Soundsystem, the band cites influences as wide-ranging as Devo, New Order, Gap Band and The Time. Of course, having grown up in '80s Minneapolis, the band seems equal parts Revolution and Replacements—borne at the confluence of "Purple Rain" and "Let It Be."

They released their first album—a self-titled EP—in September of 2008. Twin Cities music press greeted the album warmly, and praised the band for bringing some dance tunes into an otherwise determinedly folk-and-shoegaze scene. Six months later, Military Special returned with their full-length debut "Civil Union," and was praised for their seamless melding of electro and indie rock.

The live show truly has to be seen to be believed. In the Twin Cities, few acts have fans as fiercely devoted as Military Special's, or as ready to dance: limbs and bodies bounce across the floor, clothes are ripped off, shoes removed and tossed on stage; to quote one recent booker: "People go nuts." And Military Special loves it. In town, they have become the unofficial band of last call, playing right up to (and often well past) the flashing lights, packing the floor 'til 2AM—or whenever.

And for the immediate future? With another five months of Minnesota winter looming, Military Special looks forward to hunkering down and working on their next record, and hopes to hit the road in search of warmer climes.