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LEXDEV 019CD
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Ten East's debut, Extraterrestrial Highway, was originally released in 2006 on Alone Records and is now available exclusively on Lexicon Devil. In terms of mining the pipeline of instrumental, multi-layered, psychedelic desert-rock with a heavy-assed backbeat, Ten East has the supergroup line-up to die for. On this record, Ten East are: Gary Arce (Yawning Man, Fatso Jetson, Sort Of Quartet), Mario Lalli (Fatso Jetson, Yawning Man), Brant Bjork (Kyuss) and Bill Stinson (HOR, Greg Ginn). Their sound is caught somewhere between jazz-like improvisation and rock-solid riffery. Taking inspiration from punk, blues, psychedelia, surf and jazz, the band's sound ably demonstrates creeping influences from such artists as SST standard-bearers Black Flag, Meat Puppets and the Minutemen, as well as The Ventures, Captain Beefheart, Brian Eno, ZZ Top and the improvisations of Monk and Dolphy. In the band's most current line-up, Bjork has left the band, and none other than Greg Ginn himself has replaced him on bass. This is not merely stoner rock, this is a slab of instrumental fury which will blow brain cells.
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LEXDEV 022CD
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This is the second release by the Los Angeles-based Ten East. Ten East started up in the mid-'00s as a semi-improvised outfit. They caught the ears of Alone Records out of Spain, who released their debut Extraterrestrial Highway (now re-released by Lexicon Devil). The line-up here is a veritable stoner-punk supergroup: Gary Arce (Yawning Man, Sort Of Quartet), Mario Lalli (Across The River, Fatso Jetson) and Bill Stinson, and joining them are Scott Reeder (Kyuss, Obsessed) on bass; Bryan Giles on guitar (Red Fang) and Greg Ginn (Black Flag, Gone) on guitar and organ on almost half the tracks. Recorded at Ginn's SST studio over several months, The Robot's Guide To Freedom sees Ten East branching out in heavier, more aggressive territory than their first release, as well as tempering the brute attack with forays into more ethereal space-rock and '60s/'70s-style psych jams. The music is a perfect encapsulation of the scenes these individual members helped create: the ferocious punk squawl of Ginn's frenetic, free-jazz-inspired riffs which set California ablaze some 25 years ago, combined with the scorched desert-rock of stoner pioneers Yawning Man, Fatso Jetson and Kyuss. The music of Ten East is dense, multi-layered and worthy of many repeated listens. Lead songwriter Gary Arce has the knack for penning a totally non-generic riff -- such riffs born from his love of the guitar work of Ginn, Eno, Steve Fisk, surf music and Tom Verlaine -- and creating a truly lyrical piece of music, one which makes one forget that Ten East don't and likely never will require a vocalist. Anyone into the sounds of the manic prog freakouts of early '70s King Crimson, the surf twang of the Ventures, the spaced grooves of Guru Guru and Amon Düül, or the peyote-fried guitar work of primo Meat Puppets will find something in this music.
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