SPOTS77

Last night I saw The Stoned Ambassadors and Wooden Shjips at Cafe Nine. The place was packed with flannel and beards, as expected. The Ambassadors sort of had a Brian Jonestown Massacre vibe going on - dark shades and groovy 60s styled songs. The singer wore shades and played a big red hollow body. He wasn't really singing, giving more of a deadpan delivery, but it was still a real nice set.

When Wooden Shjips went on they really kicked ass. Waves and waves of drone and noise with a great driving backbeat all night. The guitar was incredible, and the vocals echoing from here to next Friday. They played most of the tunes off their new album, and they added a new one they said was part of their soundtrack to The Wicker Man (they're doing the soundtrack for a screening of it in NYC on the 30th.) They even closed the set with Neil Young's Vampire Blues featuring a guest harmonica player. Of course it was done up so it sounded like a Wooden Shjips song, but there's no problem with that. These guys nailed it - I hope they make it back to the East Coast soon. - CT Indie

Matt Wilga (drummer for Western MA hardcore bands the Cancer Kids, Failures, and Bucket Full of Teeth, and leader of the Stoned Ambassadors) phones it in from Brooklyn, NY. The last coupla years have been great for drummers stepping out from behind the kit- the Intelligence, Lover!, Ty Segall, Primitive Hands, etc.- and now the Stoned Ambassadors can be added to the list. Matt's solo 7" debut last year on Labor of Love was exactly that, a beautiful looking and sounding document of a dude coming into his own, three wistful pop nuggets etched into layers of JAMC-inspired 4-track hiss. I had no choice but to love it. Here, Matt doubles his recorded output with two songs from the single and a buncha Stoned Ambassadors songs in the making. Can't wait to hear more!

Nadav Carmel, KDVS 01/22/2010
Songs
There I Go
In The U.S.A.
19-93 Blues
Came Down Crazy
If I Tell Myself
Lay My Head On Down
Headed On That Ride - Phoning It In

To follow that, we've got the debut solo outing from Matt Wilga, the There I Go EP on spanking new imprint Labor of Love. The three songs here probably aren't what you'd expect from someone with a resume that reads like Wilga's (drummer extraordinaire for the likes of Failures/Bucket Full of Teeth/Cancer Kids). And those fortunate few that heard the Stoned Ambassadors demo cd-r will have at least some insight into their sound, but for everyone else, Wilga's blend of caterwauling shoegaze-sonics, strident vocal turns and bracing dynamic swells will come as something of a shock, especially if you came in expecting machine gun-like double-bass and manic mosh time signatures. On the A-Side, the title-track is awash in lovelorn disconsolation, as Wilga, doing his best Scott Walker, builds a gorgeously deadpan tune upon a waltzing cadence and brill building-style melody. He lets fly on the B-Side with two tracks of A Place to Bury Strangers-like feedback maelstroms, guitars skronking and squealing into a gorgeous pink-noise cacophony with hints of melody ebbing and flowing throughout the tumult. Limited to just 300 copies in lovely letter pressed sleeves, get it direct from the label and tell 'em we sent ya. - Impose Magazine

I took a bite of this lemon meringue pie for the first time in a hotel restaurant somewhere in Elizabeth, New Jersey or Hartford-ish, Connecticut. I don't remember exactly where, I do know it was one of those two places because my mom went on business trips there and because it was summer vacation she would bring us along because we had nothing to do at home. I was an early teen-ager and I figured it was fine. Immediately after I took a bite, my eye watered up, squinted furiously and my left arm flew in front of me like I was about to jab the person across from me. I'd never felt something like that in my life. It's what they call "a knee jerk reaction". You react before your brain has a second to curb your physical answer to whatever you hear, smell, see, feel, TASTE. I'd never had an uncontrollable reaction before that, with the exception of boners. I got a boner in Kindergarten and I was super perplexed. My teacher was reading James and The Giant Peach (dead serious) and I got a full on all-engines-go kid boner. I wasn't sure why, but I felt like a hero. I didn't know what a boner was, so I pulled the kid rocket out after unzipping my pants mid-story and showed my dick to the entire class. There was a chain reaction of confusion and eventually the entire story time circle's attention was on my junk. It was kind of a mess, the Kindergarten teacher pulled me away by the wrist, I had to tuck my Black and Decker drill away and I was scolded. She sent a note home that was luckily intercepted by my mom when she got there to pick me up (my dad would have murdered me.) Long story short, I wasn't familiar with uncontrollable reactions.

Years later I heard Minor Threat for the first time. (I'm not one of those posers who claims they listened to Minor Threat when they were around, or when they were in 5th grade, by years later I mean several years later.) I heard a song called "Seeing Red" and found out that the lyrics were about being so blindingly angry that you saw red. I related to that because just a bit before I heard that song, I saw "red". Some super foul things went down, I felt betrayed and cheated and my reaction was uncontrollable anger. I ripped my own room to shreds and the entire time my ears were ringing and there was a blood red tint to everything in my vision.

I figured all of that amateur shit was behind me. Losing control is a total bummer because there's a lot more up for grabs when you get older. Seeing red or tearing up over a sour piece of candy was over. Then I heard the Stoned Ambassadors this past summer and before I could even gather my thoughts I said "Who the fuck is this? This is seriously AMAZING." It might help to know that I was burning one down at the time, but I'm no stranger to that. I was sitting in a lawn chair in the woods with a stereo behind me was blasting the EP and I heard it for the first time. Knee jerk reaction, this shit is mind boggling. The three song demo made by dudes that you might think have been in the game forever continues to blow my mind since then. I genuinely believe that if you're a fan of The Stone Roses, Brian Jonestown Massacre, and things that sound amazing you'll throw this on heavy rotation. I know, I sound like some Mr. Bellding-ass Casey Kasem hypeman but it's ridiculous.

You can listen to their EP at their Myspace page. I'd suggest doing this right now, otherwise you're missing out big time. - Let's Get Tight