electro group
"a new pacifica"
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From Gear Magazine
The Electro Group, A New Pacifica
Reinventing the Wall of Sound as electric blanket, this Northern California band (who are not, technically, an electro group) take My Bloody Valentine for a Ride, wrapping lyrical streams of self-consciousness in pillowy layers of guitar feedback and keyboard effects. All this jagged luxury should thrill melody-starved fans of Trans Am: "Continental" rumbles over a Beach Boys harmony, while "If You Could See" tosses a grungy riff into the kitchen sink, where it chafes against Led Zeppelin and a triangle. Dream pop in every sense. MM
Dream Magazine #3
Electro Group "A New Pacifica" (Omnibus) Fuzzy dusters of bluster on the
guitars thumping in the lump of drums and puzz stumping, while high
indeterminate vocals rise above the ruckus and fly along levitating above
the thundery pop melodics buried in their glacial weight and noisy
expansiveness. Banging into the walls in carefully planned moves,
articulated like Jackie Chan fight movements in super slow motion that are
still too fast to believe. This Sacramento trio stir up a pleasantly
heavy/light brand of melodic psych pop on their full length debut.
George Parsons
From Exclaim! Magazine
ELECTRO GROUP
A New Pacifica
To be in 1990 again, with Creation Records and its talented roster. The sound of loud guitars swirling through effects pedals at deafening volumes while sweet voices guide us. Electro Group is as close to that place as you can get. A New Pacifica is reminiscent of the great albums released by some of the late '80s, early '90s Creation and 4AD bands: melodic pop songs drenched in a thick wall of noise, driving bass and timely drums. Led by Tim Jacobson (ex-Rocketship), Electro Group shows how great the sound of extremely distorted pop music can be. The songs range from Dinosaur Jr. rockathons ("Cyrna Ruka") to Swervedriver jam sessions ("Continental") to the short instrumentals that made Loveless so dreamy ("A New Pacifica"). As many people still wait for that next My Bloody Valentine album, Electro Group has given fans of this music the closest thing to Loveless anyone could hope for.
-Cam Lindsay
From lost at sea
Electro Group
A New Pacifica
Omnibus Records
At first listen, "Trigger/Repeat/Hold", the opening track to Electro Group's "A New Pacifica", can easily be mistook for a Mary Poppins fly away theme song. With its gentle, hypnotic loop slithering back and forth from the speakers to the outside world, "Trigger" is less like an intro and more like invitation to your pillow. All too quickly, though, does the song drift off to introduce the true bread and butter of what the Electro Group is; sonic chaos amidst layers of instrumental beauty.
There is no hiding that the Electro Group has taken influence from the early 90's shoegaze hysteria, lending itself strongly to early Lilys, Ride, and especially My Bloody Valentine. But where the aforementioned super groups may have lacked in straight up rhythm power, Electro Group pounds in a unique stamp of aggression over an almost fragile blanket of sound. The bass chugs with heavy fuzz distortion, and the drums pound with math-y precision over falsetto vocals and bright, melodic noise guitar.
Loops similar to the intro swerve in and out of the albums fifteen tracks, as some more subtle and quiet tracks are introduced to slow down the pace. "Can't Remember" shows a nod to Pink Floyd acoustic balladry with wisps of keyboard and ooh ahh vocal harmonies. The darkest number, "19.5", dishes up sharp cuts of feedback as the vocals are choked out under the song's heavy, fast forward pulse.
"A New Pacifica" may not be the most musically eclectic work of sound, but it delivers a solid hybrid of noisy dissonance over ethereal pop music, and, most importantly, reminds us just how interesting the shoegaze genre was- and has become.
-Trevor Naud
From Las Vegas Weekly
Sound: CD Reviews
OK, we're bored. We're tired of coming up with 150 ways to say "catchy guitar hooks" and spouting off funny metaphors like "his voice comes off like a refrigerator in heat." Therefore, this week, we're taking a dangerous foray into the world of haiku. Yeah, those little poems your junior high teacher made you write just because she went to Japan over the summer. So, here it is, in all its glory, our very first edition of CD Haiku. Go ahead, count the syllables. We dare you. (FYI: A haiku has five syllables in the first line, seven in the second and five in the third. You will be tested later.)
ELECTRO GROUP
A NEW PACIFICA
A-
Fuzzy as a fake fur shoe gazers with a bloody valentine angst
Depression drips like warm honey; sticky and sweet truly delightful
-Jeff Inman
From Basement Life
Electro Group
A New Pacifica
Omnibus
If it was the early nineties, Electro Group would probably spawn too many imitators too imagine. Sadly, in our current time, their noisy indie pop might sound a bit tired, but it is still well crafted music that stays true to its influences and stands on the strength of its musicianship. With roots that can be traced back to the more influential work of artists such as My Bloody Valentine, Electro Group bring a poppier edge to the wall of sound dynamics, and guitarist and vocalist Tim Jacobson puts a nice spin on things with his high pitched yet completely apropos singing contributions. Carried by hard-hitting drum beats, the group rocks with the best of them while relying on a dreamy and at times otherworldly guitar sound. Possessing the ability to wander into realms of dissonance and just as quickly swing back into driving rock and roll, A New Pacifica is highly compelling and for the most part doesn't allow itself to fall into the staleness that can ruin music with such specific roots. Tracks like "La Ballena Alegria," and especially "Continental," are what make the record so rewarding. Their driving hard rock shines with a believable intensity and the abundance of noise is the perfect setting for each instrument as it is pulled to the forefront and screams for attention. Guitar driven noise-pop may have already had its day, but the truly charged rhythms of Electro Group prove that a good enough band has the ability to breathe new life into whatever it desires. (pd)
Electro Group's "La Ballena Alegria" is #3 on this week's soundtrack
From: Heckler
Electro Group
A New Pacifica
Omnibus
A New Pacifica is the debut album from Davis, California's very own Electro Group. This trio has everything from catchy, slightly distorted rolling bass lines to melodic guitar - all kept together with steady drum beats. Listening to A New Pacifica you can see that Electro Group was influenced by early Jesus and Mary Chain and other bands in that genre. Electro Group's only flaw is that for the amount of time that they have been a band, they don't have enough music available for fans to buy. Definitely a worthy CD to pick up.
-Kevin Evinger
From: SF Weekly
Electro Group
A New Pacifica (Omnibus)
By Jill Stauffer
When you begin to listen to Electro Group's debut album, A New Pacifica, you know right away that you've got some serious noise to reckon with. The Sacramento trio combines the heady guitar drones and electronic sounds of Stereolab with the full-force guitar feedback onslaught of Sonic Youth: It recalls a laundry dryer spinning the Lab's Mars Audiac Quintet while SY's Goo plays over the intercom.
The bands Electro Group brings to mind share a certain transcendent quality brought on by the loudness of the music combined with the complexity of its layers. First you hear the dirge and the feedback, then you experience the melody and the harmony, and then you feel the basement effect of it all -- the reverberating totality of all the parts, the unexpected rapport between the disparate vocal and nonvocal elements.
The disc opens with an attention-grabbing, 20-second tape-loop orchestral/ instrumental track and then segues into "La Ballena Alegria," a study in heavy bass, assorted guitar sounds, and vocals both harmonius and dissonant. It soon becomes clear that the main musical on Electro Group is My Bloody Valentine, the clamorous and innovative group whose album Loveless spawned a million copycat bands back in 1991. Like that record, A New Pacifica combines high, detached vocals and melodic verses with grinding guitar and plenty of feedback.
It's a promising debut and, due to the layered quality of the group's compositions, rewards multiple listens. The first time you listen to "Biped," for example, you think you get the idea, but each time you hear it, it changes your mind, demanding to be reheard. The first impression is always wrong, and that's a strength. The songs are not uniformly interesting, however, and a less-than-ardent listener might never get to the best stuff, which starts with the seventh track, "Continental," and continues through the remaining eight tunes.
If Electro Group has a weakness, it is probably that it is struggling under the weight of its influences. The band's songs are melodic and noisy, but not as melodic or noisy as My Bloody Valentine's. It's vocals are dreamy and multilayered, but not as dreamy and multilayered as the other bands it calls to mind. Make no mistake, however: A New Pacifica shows great potential, and it is clear that the group's members are on their way to harnessing a truly original and almighty kind of noise.
From Shredding Paper Magazine
Electro Group - "A New Pacifica" CD 14/41:12
The mysterious Electro Group - no accompanying press sheet and no address on the home printed sleeve [this was a promo copy...] for Omnibus Records who released this record. "A New Pacifica" is worth hunting down, though, if you can. The band creates a glorious blur of post-shoegazer haze that might hold over the faithful who still think Kevin Shields will put out another My Bloody Valentine album (yeah, right!). Like MBV, Electro Group buries sparkling melodies beneath the rubble, belying the melee with almost subliminal beauty. Slaybaugh
From Ink19
The Electro Group first came to my attention with a marble, baby blue seven-inch that came in a cloth bag with a logo button attached to it. "Line Of Sight," the A-side on this seven-inch, is a pure blast of energy, warm and engaging, bringing to mind bands like Mazarin or The Lilys. The recording quality is not the best, but of course, with a seven-inch, sometimes it's hard to tell if it's the record's fault or your stereo's. After discovering that the band included at least one member of the Slumberland band Rocketship, I was intrigued to find out what the band's debut full-length would have in store. It seems that the band has headed deeper into My Bloody Valentine-territory, with fuzzed-out guitars, heavy drumming, and wispy, indistinguishable girl/boy vocals floating around in the background. This is definitely not a bad thing, it's just that when playing in this style, the recording quality becomes a bit more important, and this is one area where the album is lacking significantly. Of course, if you don't lean one way or another on the whole lo vs. hi fidelity debate, it won't bother you a bit, and you'll probably find A New Pacifica to be a great release, which it is. If you're more interested in the production side of things, you might want to just stay locked firmly in 1991, with your worn-out copy of Loveless.
Daniel Gill
From SFGate upcoming shows section
April 21: Electro Group
Electro Group must be out of its mind with uncertainty during this PG&E meltdown. After all how can the Sacramento dream-poppers re-create their A New Pacifica CD without their juice? The record is jam-packed with more distortion-wracked guitars than a Jesus and Mary Chain impersonators' convention, overlaid with a delicate veneer of whispery falsetto vocals by guitarist Tim Jacobson, onetime member of Rocketship. They have their eyes on their shoes and their ears on a future, which, of course, includes their up-to-the-minute share of twirling loops and Moog emissions.
-Kimberley Chun
From Alternative Press
ELECTRO GROUP
Album> A New Pacifica
RATING 3
Who? Sacramento, California trio featuring guitarist-vocalist Tim Jacobson of Rocketship. [not exactly 100% correct... -matt]
Sounds Like: Surging, blurry guitars pay beautifully noisy homage to My Bloody Valentine, as do the gauzy, swoonworthy melodies.
How is it? As MBV homages go, this runs a close second to Lily's In The Presence Of Nothing. It's well-executed, but ultimately redundant.
Kindred spirits: My Bloody Valentine, Swirlies, Boo Radleys
From: Hitch
Electro Group
A New Pacifica
(Omnibus)
There's little "electro" about the Electro Group, which seems to have risen from the ashes of late, great shoegazer acts like My Bloody Valentine. With a sound that's raw and ear-flooding, the Group plays solid, guitar-driven tunes with indie-rock leanings, peppered with a few ambient snippets for good measure. Pacifica does a slight about-face at the midpoint to tone things down for a moment, but regardless of where you drop in, you're in for a damn good listen.
From the
California Aggie
Artist: Electro Group
Album: A New Pacifica
Label: Omnibus Records
Rating: 4
A New Pacifica, the latest album from Electro Group, is immediately reminiscent of My Bloody Valentine's 1991 release Loveless. The band has similarly layered guitars, high, reedy vocals and heavy distortion. But where My Bloody Valentine takes its listener through a whole range of dark, brooding moments; Electro Group's A New Pacifica keeps to the realm of catchy pop, making the album much more accessible and easier to listen to.
Nerve magazine recently rated Loveless as one of the top five albums to have sex to, along with Yo La Tengo's And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out and Miles Davis' Kind of Blue. A New Pacifica could easily be added to this list. It is almost necessary to round the list off and make it more complete. In order to have sex to Loveless, both participants must be in the throes of a deep and lust-driven passion. The first track demands that the couple be ready to get it on from the beginning, providing no slow or sultry mood music for foreplay. If one partner or the other is unfamiliar with the album, it may prove a creepy and daunting experience.
And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out is gorgeous and heart-rending music to make love to, as opposed to just banging one out. This album, with its sad and tragic edge, is strictly for people who are deeply in love - maybe star-crossed or soon to be separated.
Miles Davis' Kind of Blue, an experimental jazz album, is great for anything. In order to have sex to it, however, one has to be in a groovy mood with appropriate props ready at hand, such as air-clouding cigarette smoke, a dark liquor on the rocks and a really good sense of rhythm.
Electro Group's A New Pacifica (the album being reviewed, remember?) is a perfect medium. Neither too intense, nor too sweet, nor too commitment-oriented, this album is perfect for either the one-night stand or the easygoing, young relationship. How Nerve missed this one is a mystery.
The album begins with "trigger/repeat/hold," a Tchaichovsky-sounding number replete with percussive cellos and plucked violin strings. But enough of foreplay! The next song, "la ballena alegria" is the track most likely to bring the lighter, happier parts of Loveless to mind. After that, the band slips into its own style which only occasionally sounds a bit like Stereolab. Most of the album, however, is a pleasant mix of a number of influences, bringing the best elements of a lot of bands into one really good album.
"4, 5 and 7," "can't remember" and "a new pacifica" - tracks eight, nine and 10 respectively - are sweet and slow. Front man Tim Jacobson coos in his ethereal falsetto voice, proving that the group understands that sometimes a man needs a refractory period which he can downplay by engaging in some serious cuddling. These tracks help that scenario nicely.
-Claire St. John
From Clairecords
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! Awesome!! The much-awaited debut full length from California’s Electro Group. So good it hurts… fuzzy, grinding, noisy guitars; melodic and clean chimey guitars over those; a propulsive rhythm section to have you rocking out like no other, and male vocals bobbing over top and then submerging themselves again…brilliant! For fans of All Natural Lemon and Lime Flavors, Lenola, etc. 15 tracks.
From Slide The Needle
ELECTRO GROUP "a new pacifica" CD (omnibus records)
Full length of songs finally out these for us patiently waiting people who wanted this for a while now. This is great stuff to listen to. Noisey guitars, soft spoken songs with bass and drums that rock you off your indie-rocker. Thier sound kind of reminds me of a heavier My Bloody Valentine, but with cool sampling too. This is stuff I love. This is stuff I want to let people know about. Look out for a split 7" release for them on STN as well soon. Ex- Trace and Rocketship here. A must get...Check out their interview too...
From: Strength Magazine
Reccomended Listens: The Electro Group - A New Pacifica
From: the Napster front page
Electro Group work the same distorted ground as influential British noise pop group My Bloody Valentine, but with a catchy pop sheen. Still, there's acres of white noise and a menacing guitar line - a la Sonic Youth - over the subtle melodies and reedy vocals.
Indie Pages
Electro Group - "A New Pacifica" cd (Omnibus)
Debut full
length from this California band with ties to early Rocketship.
And like early Rocketship, Electro Group's sound is anchored deep within My
Bloody Valentine territory, wavering between "Loveless" and "Isn't
Anything". This is very powerfully noisy, often times with clean sweeping
guitars, and loud distorted bass (how I love a good distorted bass sound!),
but occasionally breaking into a wall of noise a la early Henry's Dress.
Though buried, I can occasionally hear keyboards and bells in a few songs.
For a while, I thought it was a girl singing, until I realized it was
falsetto vocals - the vocals are very indistinguishable and buried in the
mix. It wasn't until the ninth song, "Can't Remember", that I could even
hear the vocals well enough to notice! Like too many "dream-pop" records,
this has some ambient incidental music, but not too much... Luckily, though,
this is mostly song-oriented. Well, all except for the last several minutes
of the last track, which is unlistenable noise.
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