"Get a couple of veteran indie-rock musicians into a recording studio in the middle of the Mojave desert and who knows what to expect....Straddling the fine line between intriguing lo-fi and self-indulgent, experimental anti-songs, earthlings? evoke the raw bare-bones pop of early Guided By Voices and the heavily repetitive instrumental charm of late Unrest. Since they lean on spacey instruments....and '70s-era prog-rock indulgences, you might also hear Pink Floyd, Brian Eno, and various Kraut-rock bands too..... You can almost imagine these guys looking up at the dark night skies surrounded by stars, becoming one with the earth, letting the cold desert air permeate the music, flowing with the crazy space themes. Or maybe they just smoke a lot."
-- James Oliver Cury




Pick of the Day, September 13

There is absolutely nothing in the previous-band resumes of Dave Catching (ex-Ringling Sisters), Fred Drake (House of Love) and Pete Stahl (Scream, Wool, Goatsnake) that foreshadows the creepy space-rock hums of Earthlings?, the trio's new project. Recorded in Joshua Tree with guest-star contributions from Scott Reeder (Kyuss), Victoria Williams, Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters), Adam Maples (King Size Maybe) and Martina (Tricky), the group's self-titled debut CD (a Crippled Dick Hot Wax import) is not the cutesy hodgepodge of country and indie-rock alterna-metal you might expect, given the cast of collaborators.

Instead, Earthlings? evoke the similarly alien emptiness of the Mojave Desert and the Milky Way through ambient electronic washes and man-who-fell-to-earth vocals, especially on "Saving Up for My Spaceship" and "Cavalry." For their CD-release party, the psilocybin-fried Earthlings? are joined by Joshua Tree pals Dig Your Own Cactus, ex-Master of Reality Chris Goss' The Magic Eagle Canyon Punks, and Nillie Welson and the Desert Session Band, featuring former Kyuss dude Josh Homme. Earthlings? also perform at the Roxy on Sat. (Falling James)

Lots of unusual trippages through the basic pop form, with some seriously spooky lyrics....

There's a ton of pop albums wandering about today.... earthlings? is plying the same ground, but from a whole different perspective.... From the sky or even outer space.

A grand vision of what pop music can be.... songs which infuriate and inspire. Music that challenges the concept of the norm. The sort of thing one might call revolutionary.





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