RECENT AND SELECTED PRESS
...when it's engineered this beautifully and the songs land so hard, I'm sold. Arguable highlight is Postperfect Conditional,
where Kim takes lead vocal duties...
Video Interview with Punk Rock Beat
Sun-13 Interview with E
Here is a link to a video interview of E conducted by Veil of Sound...
Se fino ad ora la band ha prodotto album di post-core autoriale molto interessanti, ascoltando il nuovo Living
Waters si percepisce come ci sia qualcosa di maggiormente risolto tra le differenti anime della band e che permette al lirismo di Zedek e alle obliquità di Sanford di cristallizzarsi come caratteristiche di un orizzonte maggiormente coeso e ancora più riconoscibile. A oliare meglio l'ingranaggio potrebbe esserci anche lo zampino del nuovo arrivato Ernie Kim...
Translation: If up to now the band has produced very interesting authorial post-core albums, listening to the new Living Waters
one perceives how there is something more resolved between the different souls of the band and which allows Zedek's lyricism and Sanford's obliquities to shine through. crystallize as characteristics of a more cohesive and even more recognizable horizon. To better oil the gear there could also be the hand of the new arrival Ernie Kim...
Concert listing with details about at the Lilith Festival in Genova
Auch das fünfte Album des Trios ist eine echte Gemeinschaftsarbeit, Produkt des kollaborativen Ansatzes, den E schon seit ihren frühesten Tagen in den Mittelpunkt ihres Tuns gerückt haben, was dazu führt, dass auch auf Living Waters
das Zusammenwirken der individuellen Stimmen, dystopischen Texte und instrumentellen Performances bisweilen größer anmutet als die Summe der einzelnen Teile. Das spiegelt auch die akribische Entstehungsgeschichte des Albums wider. Remote und persönlich hatten sich die drei Protagonisten in Boston, Massachusetts (Zedek und Kim) und Boulder, Colorado (Sanford) rund ein Jahr Zeit genommen, ihre Ideen zu verdichten, bevor das Album im vergangenen Dezember mit dem langjährigen Weggefährten Andy Hong am Mischpult in dessen Rare Signals Studio in Cambridge, Massachusetts, eingespielt wurde. Das Resultat ist eine Platte, die E furchtlos, unkonventionell und authentisch zeigt
Translation: The trio's fifth album is also a real collaboration, a product of the collaborative approach that E has moved into the center of their actions since their earliest days, which means that the interaction of individual voices, dystopian lyrics and instrumental performances sometimes seem to be greater than the sum of the individual parts on Living Waters
. This also reflects the meticulous genesis of the album. Remote and personally, the three protagonists in Boston, Massachusetts (Zedek and Kim) and Boulder, Colorado (Sanford) to condense their ideas for about a year before the album was recorded last December with the long-time companion Andy Hong at the mixing desk at its Rare Signals Studio in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The result is a record that shows E fearless, unconventional and authentic.
Con loro stavolta c'è il nuovo membro Ernie Kim a batteria e sax, un ingresso che contribuisce a portare al massimo livello le quotazioni del trio e quindi alla realizzazione di quello che è senza dubbio il migliore degli album realizzati fino a oggi: diversificato nella scrittura (più moduli, intelligente calcolo degli 'arrangiamenti'), misurato ed equilibrato nella misura dei rapporti di forza tra gli strumenti, suonato bene come mai prima.
Translation: With them this time there is the new member Ernie Kim on drums and sax, an entry that contributes to bringing the trio's prices to the highest level and therefore to the creation of what is undoubtedly the best of the albums made to date: diversified in writing (multiple modules, intelligent calculation of the 'arrangements'), measured and balanced in size of the balance of power between the instruments, played well like never before.
The group E is ready to set out on a massive European and North American Tour to support their latest LP, 'Living Waters.'
E aren't like most bands. They are often difficult to listen to, like all interesting music though am I right? They often border on Shellac's intensity, whilst retaining the melody of Sebadoh? Zedek (Come, Live Skull) continues to plough a furrow of wildly mesmerizing and completely original music that manage to surprise on each release... This is superb stuff.
This is, then, E's heaviest record to date...urgent and cathartic...
An interview with E (print version)
...towering undulations instil an unease that is equal parts 1980s state paranoia and post-Covid trauma...Even compared with the substantial artillery of 2022's Any Information EP, the new album's (Living Waters) march is ridiculously heavy and relentless...
read part 1 of E's interview with Punk Rock Beat here...
read part 2 of E's interview with Punk Rock Beat here...
With other additional instrumental adjustments in the construction mix (including further self-built equipment add-ons, different effects and some fleeting saxophone), generally heavier production values and even grittier psycho-dramatic wordplay, this is E turned up to eleven on all fronts.
...they (E) want to show us the way, helping us to see through all the bluster and false news, but can only do so with the kind of rhythmic intensity and sharp edges that can be dangerous to the uninitiated
Quello del trio è un suono chitarristico con i piedi ben saldi nell'indie-rock più rumoroso e noisey degli anni '90: chitarre taglienti e circolari, drumming composto e vario e melodie vocali a doppia voce che costruiscono canzoni a metà tra le ambientazioni noise-rock che furono della Touch'n'Go e un afflato industrial-rock mai eccessivo.
Translation: ...That of the trio is a guitar sound with its feet firmly in the loudest and noisiest indie-rock of the 90s: sharp and circular guitars, composed and varied drumming and double-voiced vocal melodies that build songs halfway between noise settings -rock that belonged to Touch'n'Go and an industrial-rock inspiration that was never excessive...
...un noise rock chitarristi- co nel quale le chitarre dei due leader s'incrocia- no in maniera sempre magmatica, a volte facen- do brillare gli spigoli, altre lasciando emergere un certo lirismo...Il rit- mo incalzante di Kim dà la giusta spinta a pezzi serrati e propulsivi quali (Fully) Remote, Jumpro- pe e Null, alle sincopi noise di affondi come Cla- rion o Postperfect Conditional, all'andamento alie- no e sperimentale...
Translation: ...a guitar noise rock in which the guitars of the two leaders intersect in an always magmatic way, sometimes making the edges shine, other times letting a certain lyricism...Kim's pressing rhythm gives the right push to tight and propulsive pieces such as (Fully) Remote, Jumprope and Null, to the noisy syncopations of lunges such as Clarion or Postperfect Conditional, to the alien and experimental flow...
Furchtlos, unkonventionell, authentisch: Mit 'Living Waters', dem inzwischen fünften Album ihrer Band E, knüpfen Thalia Zedek, Jason Sanford und Newcomer Ernie Kim einmal mehr an alte No-Wave-Grundwerte an, gleichzeitig öffnen sich die drei erfinderischen Amerikaner mehr denn je neuen Einflüssen und gehen so zwischen smartem Songwriting und der puren Freude am Experiment weiterhin unbeirrt ihren eigenen Weg...
Translation: Fearless, unconventional, authentic: With 'Living Waters', the now fifth album of their band E, Thalia Zedek, Jason Sanford and newcomer Ernie Kim once again connects to old no-wave bases, at the same time the three inventive Americans are opening up more than ever new influences and thus continue to come their own way between smart songwriting and the pure joy of experimentation...
...on Living Waters, E tells stories about societal corruption with a deeply emotional creative response. It's a sound that perfectly portrays the human reaction to the shocks and chronic stress of daily life...their daring sound represents what is perhaps the sanest response to a world that often fails to make sense...
L'arrivée du nouveau venu a sans doute amené le groupe à se diversifier. L'aridité et la sécheresse énergique habituelles trouvent un contraste dans la soif de mélodies, de structures pop et d'émotions nouvelles, une envie de renouveler et d'éprouver la formule première. Alors que thèmes et paroles dressent un état des lieux alarmant de tout ce qui peut faire souffrir l'être humain et la planète qu'il habite, la musique est souvent entraînante et engage facilement à de nouvelles écoutes... E cherche et expérimente encore et toujours, alors que des groupes plus jeunes se sont déjà arrêtés d'innover à peine fini leur premier album.
Translation: The arrival of the newcomer may have led the group to diversify. The usual energetic aridity and drought contrasts in the thirst for melodies, pop structures and new emotions, a desire to renew and test the original formula. While themes and lyrics point to an alarming inventory of everything that can make human beings and the planet they inhabit suffer, music is often catchy and easily engages in new eavesdropping... E searches and experiments again and again, while younger bands have already stopped innovating just finishing their first album.
Plus qu'un trio, E est une association d'individus où sensibilité de chacun compte autant que la parole dans un processus de création constamment ouvert à l'échange, où nul n'est tenu à un simple rôle mais endosse pleinement des responsabilités artistiques. De cet idéal démocratique, que le groupe chérit depuis sa fondation en 2013, éclot un indie punk à l'humanité palpable, résolument ancré au vivant.
Translation: More than a trio, E is an association of individuals where everyone is sensitive as much as speech in a process of creation constantly open to exchange, where no one is bound to a simple role but takes full advantage of artistic responsibilities. From this democratic ideal, which the group has cherished since its foundation in 2013, hatches an indie punk to palpable humanity, firmly anchored to the living.
Living Waters is a monumental nine minutes of brilliant tension, of master building with an undercurrent of skronk glowing underneath it in such a powerfully subtle kind of way...
listen to the interview...
E Announce 2024 European and U.S. Summer Tours...
Guitars riff, slash, slither, smash, and sing, layering over each other with precision that sounds improvised, and spontaneity that feels composed. The tunes fracture and wobble, but never fall apart - the chaos remains perfectly controlled no matter how freaked out it threatens to scream...This band has never faltered or released a subpar album, but even within those parameters, Living Waters may be E's best LP yet.
Their (E's) fifth album is firmly rooted in the No Wave sound...but also develops a more mature, eloquent dialect of noise all their own.
...L'alchimie fonctionne. Riffs abrasifs et touché sensible chez l'une, hachures et effets de contorsion chez l'autre. Subtil alliage né du choc entre intensité dissonante, obscure froideur et voix hantées, brûlures et mélodies scintillantes.
Translation: ...The chemistry works. Abrasive riffs and sensitive touch in one, hatching and contortion effects in the other. Subtle alloy born of the clash between dissonant intensity, dark coldness and haunted voices, burns and scintillating melodies.
...Dabei gelang es ihnen, das Potential jedes einzelnen von ihnen freizulegen und mit der Eindringlichkeit des von ihnen brüderlich und schwesterlich geteilten Gesangs und den turmhohen Schichten des melancholischen Gitarrenspiels sowie der übermannenden Rhythmik, einen Wendepunkt in ihrer Entwicklung zu markieren, der die weitere Bandkarriere prägen dürfte...
Translation: ...In doing so they managed to uncover the potential of each one of them and with the intensity of the singing shared by them as brothers and sisters and the towering layers of the melancholic guitar playing as well as the overwhelming rhythm, they marked a turning point in their development, which marked the further Should shape the band career...
...absorbing selection of songs that shift from no wave to power punk, to...industrialized digital destruction...
...avec "Any Information" l'alchimie a fonctionné : paranoïa, brutalité et délicatesse s'entrechoquent.
Translation: ...with "Any Information" the alchemy worked: paranoia, brutality, and delicacy collide.
Die Welt liegt mal wieder in Trümmern, und das macht die Situation so kompliziert, die Zersplitterung zieht sich durch die Gesellschaft wie nie und macht auch vor dem einzelnen Menschen nicht halt. E fährt wie ein Bulldozer durch diese Gefilde, schiebt den Schutt zur Seite und... Man fühlt sich wohl und aufgehoben.
Translation: The world is in ruins again, and that makes the situation so complicated, the fragmentation runs through society like never before and does not stop at the individual. E drives through these areas like a bulldozer, pushes the rubble aside and... You feel comfortable and cared for.
VIS350 review in German
VIS350 review in English
Auch wenn "Any Information" eigentlich "nur" eine EP, ein Postskritum zur letzten LP ist - nie klangen E beeindruckender, kraftvoller und klarer als hier.
Translation: Even if "Any Information" is actually "only" an EP, a postscript to the last LP - E's never sounded more impressive, powerful and clearer than here.
...in Songs wie dem rabiaten ´Mr. Strongman´ oder dem vom Wave und Indierock der 80er geküssten ´Jungle Cats´ die individuellen Talente des Trios nun zu einem kraftvoll-klaren Sound, der größer ist als die Summe der einzelnen Teile.
Translation: ...in songs like the rabid ´Mr. Strongman´ or the ´Jungle Cats´, kissed by the wave and indie rock of the 80s, now combine the individual talents of the trio into a powerful, clear sound that is greater than the sum of the individual parts
Buscadero review in Italian
Buscadero review in English
Ce qui distingue E est leur volonté très vivace d'expérimenter tout en ayant la maturité d'y inclure de la retenue et de l'austérité...Le nom de E lui-même est représentatif du groupe, un trio de lignes, chacune égale en longueur, chacune sortant d'une même base, et chacune gardant sa propre individualité.
Translation: ...What sets E apart is their very vivacious willingness to experiment while having the maturity to include restraint and austerity in it...The name of E itself is representative of the group, a trio of lines, each equal in length, each emerging from the same base, and each retaining its own individuality.
Following on from 2020's feverishly prophetical Complications LP, art-rock super-group E... return with the shorter but more congealed Any Information (Silver Rocket)... things feel more hive-minded this time around...
Offrant peu à peu ses riffs têtus à quelques virages bien sentis (Desire Path, Jungle Cats), E fait autant confiance à son écoute mutuelle qu'à sa grande expérience pour manœuvrer ses guitares minimalistes vers une plus grande clarté émotionnelle... Any Information vient ici compléter un répertoire déjà alimenté de belles choses depuis les débuts du groupe en 2016.
Translation: Gradually offering his stubborn riffs to a few well-felt turns ( Desire Path, Jungle Cats ), E trusts his mutual listening as much as his great experience to maneuver his minimalist guitars towards greater emotional clarity... Any Information comes here to complete a repertoire already filled with beautiful things since the group's debut in 2016.
E brings together three disparate but complementary energies, the brute, ravaged force of Thalia Zedek's singing and playing, the spiked, percussive punk cadences and altered guitar sounds of Jason Sanford and the elemental thump of Gavin McCarthy's drums... Any Information, the fourth or fifth from this band... is its most cohesive statement yet.
E ne perd pas de temps en politesses et nous colle d'entrée de jeu un bon vieux coup de boule bien vicieux, avec ce premier titre qui donne son nom au disque. Riff de guitare foutrement dansant, rythmique débraillée, texte débité les dents serrées, la chanson a l'odeur des soirs de vices, quand la lune est ronde et le temps suspendu comme dans l'œil d'un cyclone.
Translation: E wastes no time in courtesies and gives us a good old vicious headbutt from the outset, with this first title which gives its name to the disc. Damn dancing guitar riff, scruffy rhythm, text spitting out with clenched teeth, the song has the smell of evenings of vice, when the moon is round and time suspended like in the eye of a cyclone.
(E) the band refocuses the power trio through their own distinctive lens in such a way that their music sounds familiar, but could only have been created by the three of them. Thanks to twisting guitar riffs, clanging rhythms, clock-steady drum pulses...the half-dozen songs on Any Information, the band's fourth release, celebrate classic rock power and subvert it...
This new song is jarring and dissonant with an attack of guitars and drums battering each other in the most beautiful way possible...This forthcoming EP should be a monster.
3e album du band qu'on appelle E, Complications suinte par tous les pores une fièvre d'aujourd'hui. Sorti en plein cœur de notre isolement contraint, cet album aux multiples allusions morbides a sans doute accompagné bon nombres d'introspections tourmentées...
Translation: 3rd album of the band called E, Complications oozes from all pores today's fever. Released in the heart of our forced isolation, this album with multiple morbid allusions has undoubtedly accompanied a good number of tormented introspections...
...On remarquera du reste que maladie, miasmes et contagion imprègnent les paroles et intitulés de cet album de manière quasi divinatoire puisque Complications
fut composé et enregistré avant la crise sanitaire... On a hâte de les revoir sur scène, avec ou sans masque!
Translation: ...We will notice moreover that disease, miasma and contagion permeate the lyrics and titles of this album in an almost divinatory way since Complications
was composed and recorded before the health crisis ... We can't wait to see them again on stage, with or without mask!
Complications is a tightly wound record that pulls their three sided, post-everything, rock into a taut triangle. Three interlocking planes, sharp at the corners, satisfyingly balanced in geometric harmony...
...killer dynamics go full-throttle on the cutthroat-precise, off-kilter melodies and intertwining nails-on-chalkboard guitar scratch attack on the bass-less Complications. Their raw and primal energy, unmistakable rapport and ear-bleeding sonics easily reach Shellac-like levels. Then there's the themes of sickness, viruses and contagions running through Complications that prove freakishly prescient in these tumultuous times.
Een van de mooiste Amerikaanse gitaarplaten van de laatste tijd komt niet van een jong bandje, maar van een drietal ervaren rotten die zich E noemen, opereren vanuit Boston en bijna achteloos bewijzen dat zij er toe doen.
Translation: One of the most beautiful American guitar records of recent times does not come from a young band, but from three experienced bastards who call themselves E, operate from Boston and prove almost carelessly that they matter.
E... est peut-être la forme la plus pure de collaboration musicale, chaque membre apportant une contribution égale à leur intrigante et fougueuse — mais parfois légèrement sinistre — marque de musique mélodique post-hardcore à la guitare.
Translation: E... is perhaps the purest form of musical collaboration, with each member making an equal contribution to their intriguing and spirited — but at times slightly sinister — brand of post-hardcore melodic music on guitar.
Ein Lichtblick in Zeiten des Lockdowns... Mit dem 2018er-Album Negative Work haben Thalia Zedek und E eines der besten Alben des Jahres geliefert, dieses hier (Complications) steht dem in nichts nach... Origineller, interessanter und vor allem: äußerst relevanter Indie Rock.
Translation: A ray of hope in times of lockdown... With the 2018 album Negative Work Thalia Zedek and E delivered one of the best albums of the year, this one (Complications) is in no way inferior... More original, more interesting and above all: extremely relevant indie rock.
Complications
, la nueva entrega de E, es una muestra rotunda de poderío que suma nuevas páginas de oro a su matrimonio infinito con las vísceras del rock. En este caso, nueve canciones fermentadas desde una terna vital que engloba deseo, virus y esperanza... No hay refugio ante el vendaval arrojado. La furia es el lenguaje común de los tres componentes...
Translation: Complications
, the new release from E, is a resounding display of power that adds new golden pages to its infinite marriage with the guts of rock. In this case, nine songs fermented from a vital shortlist that encompasses desire, virus and hope... There is no refuge from the hurled gale. Fury is the common language of the three components...
...the purest form of musical collaboration, with each member bringing equal input to their intriguing and fiery — but at times slightly sinister — brand of melodic, post hardcore guitar music.
Une chose est sûre ici, le trio (qu'on ne devrait plus avoir à vous présenter)... est d'une osmose criante, partageant les rôles idéalement, se refilant le micro constamment et ce Complications, tout varié qu'il est, ne manque jamais sa cible... Les instrumentations anguleuses, jamais évidentes, volontiers claustrophobes, finissent par révéler, planquées derrière les barbelés, des mélodies à chérir amoureusement...
Translation: One thing is certain here, the trio (which we should no longer have to present to you) ... is of a glaring osmosis, sharing the roles ideally, constantly shifting the microphone... Complications, varied as it is , never misses its target ... The angular instrumentations, never obvious, readily claustrophobic, end up revealing, hidden behind the barbed wire, melodies to cherish lovingly...
...es este el disco de E en el que más equilibradas están las aportaciones de sus tres vértices, en el que con más naturalidad se traza la intersección entre la herencia de Come, Karate y Neptune, y también en el que el marchamo experimental del proyecto se atenúa en favor de canciones que, en efecto, parecen más canciones que nunca.
Translation: ...this is the E album in which the contributions of its three vertices are most balanced, in which the intersection between the heritage of Come, Karate and Neptune is most naturally drawn, and also in which the experimental stamp of the project it is dims in favor of songs that, in effect, seem more songs than ever.
Ein spannendes Frage-Antwort-Spiel zwischen Gitarren und Persönlichkeiten... Dabei ist E ein demokratisches Konstrukt aus drei Egos, von denen jedes strahlen darf. ... besinnen sich E auf die formativen Jahre der mittleren 90er, in denen viele Bands nach einer neuen (Gitarren-)Sprache jenseits von Hardcore suchten. Herausgekommen ist ein von Noise durchzogenes Post-Punk-Album, über das sich Freunde von Fugazi und Polvo gleichermaßen freuen dürften.
Translation: An exciting question-and-answer game between guitars and personalities... E is a democratic construct of three egos, each of which may shine. ... E recalls the formative years of the mid-90s, when many bands were looking for a new (guitar) language beyond hardcore. The result is a noise-covered post-punk album, which friends of Fugazi and Polvo alike should be happy about.
★★★★...an austere beauty. A tense and taut sound...
Non potrebbero essere in alcun modo più al passo coi tempi i temi affrontati dalle canzoni del nuovo album degli E...
Translation: The themes of E's new album could not be more in step with the times...
(6/7)
Retorse et anguleuse juste ce qu'il faut, la musique de E ravive sans aucun doute la flamme essentielle d'un rock 90's résolument noisy...
Translation: Twisted and angular just right, the music of E undoubtedly rekindles the essential flame of a 90's rock resolutely noisy...
E trouve surtout son équilibre dans un acte permanent d'écoute mutuelle. Un aller-retour où chacun s'installe au service de l'élévation collective plutôt que de sa propre aura, pourtant si vaste...Complications est un disque impeccable, débordant de réjouissances et rempli d'âme... la preuve évidente que si l'on reste droit dans son éthique et que l'on assume pleinement ses héritages, la musique qui en découle ne peut qu'être honnête et tout autant irréprochable.
Translation: E finds its balance above all in a permanent act of mutual listening. A round trip where everyone settles in the service of collective elevation rather than their own aura, yet so vast ... Complications is an impeccable record, overflowing with joy and filled with soul ... the clear proof that if one remains upright in one's ethics and takes full responsibility for one's heritage, the music that results can only be honest and just as impeccable.
Complications extends the worthiness of the prior work, benefiting from equality in construction while still allowing individuality to shine... That everyone is equally contributing...rather than leading or supporting, bounding forward or lagging behind, reinforces the vitality of E's endeavor.
E...probably didn't anticipate releasing their third album during the middle of a pandemic. However, they were evidently thinking about sickness way before the rest of us, and, as a result, Complications is weirdly relevant to our newly constrained, newly dread-filled existence.
E explores the nooks and crannies of high volume guitar rock,...With the eagerness of neophytes and the maturity of veterans, E delves into each facet of its musical model, easily maintaining its signature sonic identity no matter which twist or turn it takes.
Un racconto di quelle complicazioni
esistenziali dagli esiti tragici che pervadono i contemporanei paesi della persuasione
di saundersiana memoria...Complications è attuale e di pregevole fattura, parla fuori dai denti ma con una perspicacia non indifferente. Si, abbiamo bisogno di un gruppo come gli E.
Translation: A tale of those existential complications
with the tragic results that pervade the contemporary countries of persuasion
of Saundersian memory ... Complications is current and of excellent workmanship, it speaks out of the teeth but with a not insignificant perspicacity. Yes, we need a group like E.
...the trio feed off one another sonically and expressively for their third full-length...to sound musically restless, curious, and connected.
Als könnten sie in die Zukunft sehen:... mit geradezu gespenstischer Exaktheit das Bild des Lebens in Zeiten der Coronavirus-Pandemie vor...Musikalisch gelingt es den drei alten Haudegen derweil brillanter denn je, eigene Stä rken zu betonen und trotzdem nie den gemeinsamen Weg aus den Augen zu verlieren... E mit Complications
das seit jeher angestrebte Zusammenspiel von Technik und menschlicher Note und verbinden konzeptionelles Denken mit freischwingender Kreativitä t.
Translation: As if they could see into the future: ... the image of life in times of the coronavirus pandemic with ghostly exactness ... Musically, the three old warlords meanwhile succeed more brilliantly than ever in emphasizing their own strengths and yet never the common ones To lose sight of the way ... E with Complications
the long-desired interplay of technology and human touch and combine conceptual thinking with free-floating creativity.
E is the heaviest project (Zedek's) been involved in to date. It's also perhaps the most deeply collaborative...a sound that'close to noise but which is played by a band who have clearly been intimately reahearsing for long enough now to make everything diamond-tight and life-sized.
E have delivered a third album that taps into the febrile zeitgeist with almost uncanny prescience
(COMPLICATIONS)...expounds on the tasty blend of the prior two releases, honing the skills of three masters into an even finer dish of practiced and precise dark energy...The album is a powerhouse of honesty, a trait Zedek has been skillfully practicing for years...
Usually if a newish band released a third album that was this good, they'd be hailed throughout the land as the next Fugazi. Why doesn't this happen to E? Ageism! Pure and simple.
E are poised to take over to become the new favorite indie rock gods...
A discipline of two-guitars driven chemistry, loaded with vital minimal drumming and burning/satured fuzz, spoken through the angular phrasings of their six-strings...Everybody can play punk music when you are a teen. Once you pass your 40s, ..50s, you are a real punk.
Das kollaborative Element, so scheint es, ist ihr Ein und Alles... Im Spannungsfeld von unbändiger Power und auch nach all den Jahren ungebrochenem Experimentierwillen glänzten die drei Musiker bereits vor zwei Jahren auf ihrem selbstbetitelten Debüt, für die neue Platte sind E nun allerdings noch mehr zu einer Einheit verschmolzen.
Translation: The collaborative element, it seems, is their one and only... In the field of tension of overwhelming power and also after all these years of uninterrupted will to experiment, the three musicians already shone on their self-titled debut two years ago, but for the new record E are now even more merged into a single unit.
The toast of the alternative rock world... these veteran noise rockers come together to create something truly special.
In a time when rock music seems more stultifying every passing hour, E's Negative Work stands like a glorious beacon in a barren field.
E occupe tout l'espace sonore, entre énergie hypertendue, digressions noisy et vocalises hallucinées...
Translation: E occupies all the sound space, between hypertensive energy, noisy digressions and hallucinated vocalizations...
Cuts like Poison Letter,
Down She Goes
And The Projectionist
all shake and shatter with the confidence of a band truly making music for themselves.
Comme une hydre à trois têtes consciente de ses individualités, E a réussi à fusionner ses envies et cultiver ses différences.
Translation: Like a three-headed hydra conscious of her individualities, E manages to merge her desires and cultivate her differences.
--A photo essay from E's live show at Le Sonic, Lyon, France, on 16 June 2018--
...dissonances transcendées par la touche d'étrangeté des effets home-made... et aux crescendos électriques aussi tendus qu'énergiques, le trio retrouve une certaine essence perdue dans le genre...
Translation: ... dissonances transcended by the touch of strangeness home-made effects ... and electric crescendos as tense as energetic, the trio finds a certain essence lost in the genre ...
Live review, from Mocvara, in Zagreb, Croatia: E, u cetvrtak je poremetila nekoliko granica... se granica tice opsega glazbene inventivnosti kada je u pitanju power trio... ostale granice prestale su biti granice.
Translation: E... broke several boundaries on Thursday... the scope of musical inventiveness when it comes to power trio...other boundaries have ceased to be boundaries.
...ist wie ein Stein, der einen Berg hinunterrollt und immer schneller wird...
Translation: ...like a rock rolling down a mountain and getting faster and faster...
... the group's ability fit chaotic parts together makes for a compelling attack.
Negative Work doesn't rewrite E's formula, and it doesn't have to; it finds them mining plenty of worth from the ground rules they established on their debut, and the result is another challenging, darkly engaging release.
Kantig, eigenwillig, energiegeladen...
Translation: Edgy, idiosyncratic, energetic...
...alle erdenklichen Genres aufsaugen und experimentierfreudig zerstü ckeln, nur um sie anschließend mit unbä ndiger Punkrock-Wucht wieder auszuspucken. Packend
Translation: ...absorbing all imaginable genres and dismember them experimentally, only to spit them back then with irrepressible punk rock force. Enthralling
[E] fruitfully solidifies the distinctive rock motions, heavy yet tuneful, that were offered on their self-titled effort of 2016....E isn't merely a pick-up band for Zedek's considerable talents; not that that would necessarily be a bad thing, it's just that E is more.
(The song, Hole In Nature, is)...a deeply creepy trip, helmed by vocals as deep and intriguing as Nick Cave's and backed by skittish percussion and a gorgeous, earthy bassline
un equilibrio casi perfecto entre la métrica cerebral y matemática de Tortoise y la pasión volcánica de unos Shellac ligeramente atemperados
Tranalation: an almost perfect balance between Tortoise's cerebral and mathematical metric and the volcanic passion of a slightly tempered Shellac
a remarkable coming together of Boston underground veterans to create something startling
a great record from a tough and inventive band, a vividly successful collaboration bending guitar rock into different shapes
De cette triangulation d'identités fortes où l'ego n'a définitivement pas sa place, chaque titre prend alors forme dans une abstraction réfléchie, travaillée en commun dans un dialogue permanent....Au final, les américains nous offrent ainsi un disque intense
Tranalation: From this triangulation of strong identities where the ego definitely has no place, each title then takes shape in a thoughtful abstraction, worked together in a permanent dialogue.... In the end, the Americans offer us an intense record
...grindingly guttural yet intelligently purposeful sculpted noise.
Lovers of Zedek's noisier, spikier side will especially rejoice; after some years of turning to quieter, even more folk-inflected sounds in her solo work, the E material is some of her loudest, gnarliest music in ages.
... brash, discordant post-punkian noise and heavy tribal drone dynamics. With each listen, I've picked up a different subtle nuance...
Equal parts noise and melody, E straddle this always difficult balance with ease and make the result seem so easy. A force to be reckoned with...
...there's a throb and hum at the heart of E's sound that rarely deviates even as all around is pointillist and dark....It's that combination of the ruthlessly machine-like beats and the raw, almost adversarial composition between the three portagonists that makes the album so dramatic and so suggestive.
PRESS ARCHIVE
The tight-knit, twin guitar-led trio E... features Gavin McCarthy (Karate) on propulsive smashing, Jason Sanford (Neptune) on an amazing variety of custom-built string things and rigging, and Thalia Zedek (Live Skull, Come) on deathless guitar.
Ce que vous entendez sur l'enregistrement est ce qui sort des amplis et c'est ce qui donne cette touche particulière, cette musique froide ou aride d'extérieure mais parcourue d'une intense électricité mettant les mélodies en vibration, portée par la voix troublante et touchante de Zedek, contrebalancée par le timbre grave de Sanford (qui chevrote bizarrement sur Water). Pas d'esbroufe chez E. Tout à la force du poignet avec un surplus de beauté et une quantité insolente de talent. Un grand disque tout simplement.
Translation:What you hear about the recording is what comes out of the amps and that is what gives this particular touch, this cold or arid music of outdoor but traveled with intense electricity putting the melodies in vibration, carried by the voice Disturbing and touching of Zedek, counterbalanced by the serious timbre of Sanford (which strangely checks on Water). No fuss at E. All to the strength of the wrist with a surplus of beauty and an insolent amount of talent. A great record simply.
...sonido a base de de rock matemático y visceral y sentimiento post hardcore.
Translation:...sound based on math and visceral rock and post feeling Hardcore.
There is something archaically tactile about these songs too - the compositions and their structure seem gangly and cumbersome, larger than life, of gargantuan mass, yet ancient and bucolic, indebted to the earth and the ages... I can't help but picture charcoal imagery of fervent fury and fear when I hear these songs, scrawled out with juxtaposing German expressionistic touchstones of naivety and the primordial, the sacred and the scarred. Each member's lyrical proclivity, musical preference and sonic muscularity are given equal measure, a pagan triumvirate of penetrating, pointed liberation.
The vocals on E are just as strong as the instrumental performances, though you'd be hard pressed to find more distinctly different styles than Zedek and Sanford. While Zedek pushes and stretches as hard as the band plays, Sanford takes a more deadpan, relaxed approach. However, the shocker is McCarthy's lead vocal turn on the timely "Candidate." He attacks the mic as if it owes him a sizeable amount of money. On a record that doesn't lack in ferocity, "Candidate" pushes it into the red.
The result of three veterans working in total harmony. On their self-titled debut album, E have developed a sound that is both mechanically oriented and emotional.
Because each player is so distinguished and distinct in their playing styles, E is able to exhibit total control over their sound, while still focusing on having the freedom to experiment.
Brilliant right from the start.
This record by E is a massive achievement and testament to the power of choosing band mates correctly and giving them roles to suit them. The LP has power, melody, noise, subtlety and idiosyncratic song craft and vocal deliveries that lift this record to another level. For me, one of the standout records of 2016.
Song structures influenced equally by fractured postpunk and dissonant post-rock, shying away from neither melody nor good old-fashioned noise...E concerns itself with twisting power trio rawk into new, interesting shapes.
While Zedek may not be a well-known name in the mainstream alt-rock world, her influence on decades of musicians whose start was in a basement or a garage or a dimly-lit practice space is indisputable.
Although E's music can slow down or chill out, it never relaxes. Tension is key.....Change and struggle are in every note E produces.
E opens in the midst of doom and fights its way forward.
On E's delf-titled debut, Zedek, Sanford and Karate's Gavin McCarthy take their quiet/loud and angular post-punk maelstrom they call "soul music for machines" to amps-busting sonic heights, testament that Zedek hasn't mellowed one bit
Punkige Wucht trifft bei dem Bostoner Power-Trio auf die komplexen Strukturen des Math-Rock, perkussive Splitter, rollende Drumbeats und seltsam gestimmte Gitarren bäumen zu einem oft betont asketischen Lärm zwischen Dissonanz und Melodie auf, während Sonic Youth und Fugazi in der Ferne leuchten.
Translation:Punctual force hits the complex structures of the math rock, percussive splitters, rolling drumbeats, and strangely tuned guitars in the Boston Power Trio, creating an often ascetic sound between dissonance and melody, while Sonic Youth and Fugazi glow in the distance.
Auf ihrem ersten Album erforschen E die dunkle, krachige Seite ihrer jahrzehntelangen Songwriting-Erfahrungen und verbinden dabei echte, ungefilterte Emotionen mit einem oft betont unnachgiebigen Industrial-Sound. 'Soulmusik für Maschinen' nennen sie das selbst, wenn in ihren Songs ein minimalistisches Klangbild auf ungewohnte Akkorde und die ungebremste Power aus dem Spannungsverhältnis von zwei Gitarren und Schlagzeug treffen.
Translation:On their first album, E explores the dark, glaring side of their decades-long songwriting experiences, combining real, unfiltered emotions with an often unyielding industrial sound. They call it 'soul music for machines', when in their songs a minimalistic sound image meets unfamiliar chords and the unbraked power from the voltage ratio of two guitars and drums.
With the current state of our country I can only see this band being even more inspired to create more powerful music for these end times. I'm ready.
Underground firebrands Thalia Zedek, Jason Sanford and Gavin McCarthy form new, bass-less trio with enough energy to leaven occasional heaviness in dynamics. A debut both thrillingly volatile and touching melancholic.
JB, MOJO, November 2016
Heavy but with a subtle distinctiveness and an emphasis on songs; veteran skill is evident throughout.
Influential indie-rocker Thalia Zedek and her new band E explore the dark and noisy side of songcraft with cheap vintage guitars, homemade instruments, unusual chord voicings, and a triangulated collaboration between two guitars and drums.
E actually operate much more as a three-headed democratic beast...the Boston-based trio is another super-group of a kind - but satisfyingly not an obvious or ego-driven one... the threesome entwine their own past pedigrees with extra shades of no-wave, post-punk and post-rock to give this 10-track set art in its heart and fire in its belly.
Das Ergebnis ist ein forderndes, anspruchsvolles, aber auch ungeheuer spannendes Gipfeltreffen dreier starker, unterschiedlicher Persönlichkeiten, die auf alte Stärken aufbauen, gleichzeitig aber auch banddienlich ohne Rücksicht auf eigene Befindlichkeiten unbeirrt nach vorn schauen. Groß!
Translation: The result is a challenging, challenging but also incredibly exciting summit of three strong, different personalities, who build on old strengths, but at the same time also look intently at the front without regard for their own sensibilities. Big!
Oval office occupations delusions of grandeur & reality collide in something that sounds so wrenching & real it will scare you.
Although Zedek and Sanford combine their noise rock credentials with McCarthy's precision-sharp drumming, much of the trio's debut self-titled album comes off comfortable and familiar sounding,... the three-piece have so much experience that E can't help but sound sonically titillating
E, the band, is a fascinating conglomeration of contradictory energies and impulses from three individuals who have been their eccentric selves long enough to be comfortable, if not in opposition, at least in disjunctive, challenging relationship to one another.
E...construct an intense ride, something akin to Pontiak cutting up and reworking Wrekmeister Harmonies offcuts...It's a brilliant record.
Sanford and Zedek's twin guitars duel in jagged, staccato opposition, creating both massive walls of distortion and sinister syncopated sequences, all driven by McCarthy's relentlessly rolling drum patterns. Zedek's signature heart-wrenching drawl juxtaposes with Sanford's monk-like baritone in their snarling dual-vocal attack...When musicians are willing step out of their established comfort zones to do something new, you know they are real artists.
Spouting lyrics about ties broken, goodbyes unspoken and the catastrophic failure of reason, these veterans' voices are as gnarled as Hoggle's forehead but their rattling musicianship makes younger bands of this ilk look like Mumford's grandma. Though less indulgent than Gira & co., there are times when E's compositions match the quivering intensity of Swans
The songs are...focused and direct, with all three members singing and combining their powers into a common vision...E create urgent music for chaotic, uncertain times.
"Candidate" features McCarthy's scathing lyrical critique the current American political climate, and the band's signature high-energy rhythm section...jetisoning the track forward
"E....make fiery, shringy punk rock and don't mince words. Single "Candidate" is a molotov coctail of a protest song..."
The loud and lordly trio marks its recorded debut with a self-titled LP that announces itself like a carpet bombing campaign
The trio have crafted an album that fuses an explosive, industrial sound with the patience and reservation only practiced songwriters can invoke. While each member has decades of experience in the alternative scenes of rock music, their collaborative efforts have combined in a work that is both unlike anything that's come before them, and the result of three veterans working in total harmony. What sets E apart from their contemporaries is their almost youthful willingness to experiment, while having the maturity to show restraint and austerity. On their self-titled debut album, E have developed a sound that is both mechanically oriented and emotional, a combination they could only describe as "soul music for machines."
E captures the malignancy lurking on the edge of 2016 and channels it into an intense and challenging piece of music. E is a piercing, propulsive exercise in the fine art of guitar rock, a collaborative experiment in tension and release
Together, the three create a tense, electric sound that's informed by their esteemed backgrounds but twists those influences into something uniquely arresting.
Dark, glorious, shattering sounds from the trio behind Come, Neptune and Karate
A trio of indie rock and noise rock veterans, E,...affixes dissonance-pocked riffs over jaw-jarring drums.
...E offered loud, layered power-trio rock, shifting the spotlight among guitarist-vocalist Thalia Zedek, drummer Gavin McCarthy, and Jason Sidney Sanford on homemade, scrap-metal guitar.
...wiry jerking groove that brings to mind and fuses together the post-punk shards of Gang Of Four, Bush Tetras, Wire and Mission Of Burma into a sublime whole....potent mix of visceral minimalism and artful intellect