Uglyhead

Posted: Thursday, November 08, 2007
By: Matthew Johnson
Assistant Editor

Uglyhead's first live album succeeds in injecting a heavy dose of grittiness into the band's electronic-heavy sound.

Jake Alejo started Uglyhead in Seattle as a home studio project, composing aggressive industrial tracks from loops, sequences, and samples. Performed with a live band, as on this recording, that material takes on a drastically different character, less bedroom studio fiddling than raucous garage noise explosion. While the electronics are still very much in evidence, particularly in the breakneck jungle beats of "Urp" and the slick stabs of synth sequences on "Stopped," there's an appealing dirtiness infused throughout From Time to Time... that makes it sound as though these tracks were originally composed by a rock band, not a single electronic composer. Alejo's vocal bellows are ragged and bloody, with guttural backing shouts from the rest of the band on "Lost Forever" giving a punk immediacy to the song's drum & bass onslaught and doom metal guitars, and after an introduction of rumbling bass synths, the drums on "Reachout" explode with a kick to the gut that really makes you feel like you're there. The live setting also gives Alejo and company more room for improvisation, which consists mostly of unexpected bursts of harshly distorted electronics, in keeping with Uglyhead's sonically confrontational aesthetic. There's room for subtlety too though, and as if to prove that there's more to his music than aggression, Alejo slips in a couple of cleaner tracks. "Deplore" starts with polished guitars and a mellow bass line before adding dissonance and distortion, and "Gone" is less about anger than angst, faintly reminiscent of Nine Inch Nails with its mixture of moody keys and tortured choruses. While no live recording can compare with seeing a show in person, From Time to Time... manages to come close, and the high production values on this album make it a perfect introduction to Uglyhead even for folks who usually eschew concert albums. - Regen Magazine

UGLYHEAD
From Time To Time (Live at the Vogue)
Automation Records


Electropunk? The Circle Jerks meet The Orb? What are Uglyhead up to? That
can only be answered on this furious live album. The main vein here is
old-school punk but backed by super-heavy electronics and guitars. This
album hits with all the intensity of a dump truck thrown off the top of a
building onto your house. It is not contrived. It is certainly not that
overwrought FM radio crap they call 'emo' punk. This is brutal, in your face
rock. The album's closer "Stopped" will have you pinned to the nearest wall
with it's intensity. An incredible recording.
(Poseidon)

December Issue - Gothic Beauty Magazine

Artist: UGLYHEAD
Title: From Time to Time...
Format: CD
Label: Automation records [ auto99 {at} automationrecords {dot} com ]
Rated:
Jake Alejo plus four live musicians, a.k.a. Uglyhead, play a mean fast-paced electro-core. After their debut full-length CD entitled "EP", Uglyhead is back with a live album on Automation records, fruit of three night of live recordings in a Burlesque club heavily mixed and post-produced in the studio afterwards. The sound is a little marshy and not all the instruments breath as openly as they could/should have, but that might also be a conscious choice in the studio or the result of the unavoidable leakage on a stage.
If you consider that this is supposed to be a live band, Uglyhead does a pretty good job at sounding like a machine-derived electronic creature. The drums in particular are processed in a way (or triggered) that they sound like a re-worked drum machine. Under a cloud of guitars, analog synth lines, bass and distorted vocals (consistently mixed in too low), transpires a lean and in your face mixture of electronic music, metal, rhythm-noise, industrial, breakcore and power-noise.
- chaindlk.com

When was the last time you heard anything in the "industrial music" vein (ala Ministry, not Neubauten) that got you really excited? Something that resonates like "Thieves" or "Tin Omen" (if you have to ask who wrote those and you're listening to CombiChrist, stop reading right now)? While most of the greats have either retired or moved on to make a buck via shitty EBM, Uglyhead is willing to pick up the torch of early 90s guitars/meets electronics, self-described as "the raw sound of garage rock/heavily layered electronic sequencing". This astoundingly produced live recording was captured (by guitarist/label-head Jeremiah Smith) over a series of nights in front of the Seattle drag queen troupe Vicious Dolls, a fitting venue and audience for the band's thrashing debauchery. The quintet cycles through this set of half-unreleased material, grinding guitars, pounding acoustic drum kits, working intricate digital programming, sprinkling in a little jazz and drum 'n' bass here and there (check out the Mingus-esque bass breakdown on "Yes") and focusing on solid textures of miniature chromatic harmonic progressions while vocalist/programmer Jake Alejo screams and growls above the pandemonium. The songs are as relevant as they are nostalgic and form the perfect mix of dynamic shifts for those who still care about musicianship while banging their heads. - SLUG Magazine

Eccentric release here. Cooing ambient strains with barely discernible structure give way to pounding industrial rhythms, with dissonant shouts icing the fuzzy amplified cake. Second track "Corners" takes a slightly more conventional turn, as its electronic feel gives birth to an angsty Ministry vibe. Rough, atonal guitars slash through an electronic-sounding wash of drums and keyboards throughout this CD, with alternating passages of rock-oriented shouting and chugging. A wildly eclectic ride that veers schizophrenically between raucous industrial metal and electronic drone, this is clearly aimed at the musically adventurous. This recording was an ambitious venture, and one can only wonder if the band will aim for some sort of cohesion on further releases, or further pursue the Zorn-ish avant garde tendencies so readily apparent.

- Daredevil Magazine

I recently sat and consumed much caffeine with Jake Alejo, the man (freak) behind Uglyhead. I had never heard of Uglyhead before meeting Mr. Alejo, and meeting him before hearing his music certainly set the stage for a surprise.. You see, Jake Alejo is absolutely nothing like his music. He is a quiet person, subdued yet sardonic, intelligent and of strong opinions. Uglyhead, on the other hand, is a grunting pig of bitterness and anger, all attitude and bludgeoning spite. This is one project that is perfectly suited to it's title. Carrying high the flag of punk-rock, Uglyhead comes across with as much raw passion as a bare-knuckles fighter. Listening to this EP could be loosely compared to fistic amputation... Can you picture having a limb punched off? Slap this cd on and see if it doesn't become easier to envision. There is no posturing with Uglyhead, none of the affected angst that so many of today's 'industrial' bands wear on their sleeves. Not casual background music, Uglyhead is what you put on after you've had a shitty day and want to vent. It also works as music to frighten the neighbors with. If you're tired of the same old slick EBM, give Uglyhead a spin... Nothing like a little self-inflicted abuse. Definitely worth having. - Starvox Magazine