Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
#6: "CE-5". Heir to the kingdom abandoned by Devo, Thrill makes highly theatrical pop with a pseudo-scientific bent. Unlike his yellow-jumpsuited forefathers, however, Thrill hasn't found much of an audience (beyond a group of local admirers in his home town of Brooklyn), and "CE-5," his debut album, looks destined to be one of those cult productions adored by a few and ignored by the rest of the planet. Part of the problem was timing: "CE-5" was filed under "electro-clash," a style of gaudy, New Wave-inspired synthesizer rock that was spurned about 10 minutes after it was born. Fame, you fickle ho! There weren't many songs in 2003 as intriguing as the album's opener, "Hummingbird Pneumonia," a field holler sung by what sounds like a chorus of funk-loving robots. And that was just the beginning. - David Segal - The Washington Post
Watching Vic Thrill, you can be forgiven for having thought you'd entered a deleted scene from Blade Runner. A Vic Thrill concert teeters between now and the very far-from-now. With the music owing its roots to both Middle Eastern modalities and voice-processed Max Headroom-esque cyberpunk, Vic Thrill captures a New York City circa 2103, or maybe 1983. It's an arty, Talking Heads-brand style of nervous tics and fluorescent ties, backed with techno-beats and a Clash guitar.
What really makes Vic Thrill a must-see, is the manic energy that is brought to the stage. Though the players themselves aren't doing Pete Townshend-like windmills and leg splits on stage, the high activity and jittery nature of the music force the listener to watch. Much akin to the moment in time a split second before the explosion of a bomb, stretched for 45 minutes. Having never been through that, Vic Thrill is the closet approximation I would like to get. It is all tension, no release. Normally that wouldn't jibe well with me, but the tantric nature of the concert is oddly fulfilling. When the show is finished, the crowd can finally catch their breath. - J. Hastings - Period Magazine
Oh yes- an instantly lovable electronic cyber punk world with an irresistible dance beat... as if you fell through the trap door of sanity and into the world of psychedelic bliss with unfashionably clashy, helium-sucking wackos gazelle-jumping on The Yellow Brick Road. Remember the singing bush from The Three Amigos movie? He's featured here too and fully accompanied. The perfect medicine for any tight wads you know; guaranteed to provoke a response. - CD Baby
Way back in the '80s, New York label Ze pioneered a funk-punk style known as Mutant Disco. Now, Mr. Thrill - described as "Fred Astaire on crack" - has put on his plutonium dancing shoes, taken up the Mutant baton and crafted a totally insane rampage of snarling nastiness and euphoric electronica. It's ragged, but full of wiry energy. - Daily Mirror
We should expect no less, NME supposes, from a band consisting of Vic Thrill, Saturn Missile, Aure Dextra and, on drums, Baron Von Leinenkugel. But, "CE-5" opens in a kind of, ahem, zany chaos. "Hummingbird Pneumonia" sounds like Bentley Rhythm Ace and The Boggs covering songs from "O Brother Where Art Thou?".
Luckily, VT slowly reign in/thin out this mad clutter. Indeed, "Nobody's Watching the Radar" and "Afrological" are clever, catchy space-funk fusions of everything from Easter European folk to world music rhythms that begin to bear out the Bowie comparisons. There's a dry wit to those apparently absurd lyrics, too. When they're not, as ambassadors of The Centre For the Study of Extraterrestrial Intelligence, talking about aliens. Weird. - Tony Naylor - NME
Born out of Williamsburg's vibrant underground scene in 2000 - and sounding not unlike the soundtrack to a painfully hip party there, Vic Thrill's debut is a fizzing cocktail of world music polyrhythms, camp theatrics and techno wizardry. The influence of Ziggy is evident throughout, but there are also strains of the kitsch disco of Pizzicato 5, the murky pop of The Frogs and snatches of the Happy Mondays and Underworld. Incessant and uptempo for much of the time, it is unmistakably danceable. As if entirely worn out, the record closes with the Grandaddy-esque "Zero Odds". Perhaps it's intended to soothe tired sould prepared to do it all over again. - Stuart Wright - Uncut Magazine
Discography
CE-5, 2003
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
Vic Thrill & The Saturn Missile are one of the true fringe Brooklyn music groups of the last five years, having devoted most of their efforts towards playing offbeat venues and underground art parties up and down the East Coast of the U.S. and in Europe. Despite their allegiance to the sub-culture, they have been discovered by major promoters and publications with recent shows in Italy opening for Iggy & The Stooges (Vic was also the MC of the event), followed by a return trip to play on the main stage at the The Arezzo Wave Love Festival (Italy’s Woodstock). Other shows include opening for Devo at The Hammerstein Ballroom (NYC), The Amsterjam (NYC) w/ Red Hot Chili Peppers Garbage, Snoop Dogg, Mos Def, 311, Gogol Bordello, etc. (Vic also MC’d the second stage) and the closing party for the East Village Howl Festival. The group’s last record, "CE-5" (Circus Clone Records), was ranked Top Ten of 2003 by the Washington Post and received praise from many respected publications such as NME, which described it “like Bentley Rhythm Ace and The Boggs covering songs from 'Oh Brother Where Art Thou'...clever catchy space-funk fusions of everything from Eastern European folk to world music rhythms...weird.”
The duo just finished their second full-length record titled "Circus Of Enlightenment" with Paul Mahajan (Yeah Yeah Yeah’s, TV On The Radio, Liars, The National, etc…) and Robbie Adams (U2, Smashing Pumpkins, etc.) with plans to release in the fall of 2005. The new record is a mash of punked-up drum ‘n bass rhythms, guitars and electronica combined with elements of backwoods Americana and reggae-dub. Imagine Guided By Voices getting together with Basement Jaxx and Brian Eno!
As a side note, Vic has recently signed a movie deal with Paramount Pictures and a book deal with Random House, telling the story of his life from 1998-2004 when he was living in an old gas station that served as band headquarters and “…a thrift shop version of the Warhol Factory” – NPR, known as The Vic Thrill Salon. The book, due Sept.1st is forecasted for release in winter of 2006 and the movie sometime soon after. Producing the movie are Lorne Michaels and John Goldwyn, with Tina Fey (SNL, "Mean Girls") writing the screenplay. The story is set around The Vic Thrill Salon and Vic Thrill performances and will feature much of the band’s music. Vic himself will play a large role in the production as Co-Producer, Co-Music Supervisor and Executive Producer of the soundtrack album.
Links
