Airlines

Quixotic QX011-CD

Track List:

1. Empathy Box
2. Steady Goes
3. Still Life
4. Remote Color
5. Deja Vu
6. Talking About Talking
7. Interval
8. No. 2
9. Weekend
10. 10,000 Days
11. Ad Infinitum
12. Manitoba

Players:

John Tanzer - Vocals, Guitar, Bass
John Neilson - Guitar, Bass
Joe Arcidiacono - Guitar, Vocals, Bass
David Roby - Bass
Tom Kelley - Drums, Percussion
Jamie McEwen - Viola on "Empathy Box", "Deja Vu", "Ad Infinitum" and "Manitoba"

Recording Info:

Recorded at: Excello Studios, Brooklyn
Additional tracks recorded on the WFMU Live Music Faucet and 'semi-live' at Sub Rosa
Engineered by: Chad Swanberg
Produced by: Airlines with Chad Swanberg
Mixed by: Airlines with Ryk Oakley

Can you say guitars? This is what you get when you spend too many hours in dark rooms filled with glowing amplifiers. Lush and blaring, feedback-drenched, teeming with hints and allusions to intrigues and peculiar states of mind. Their first full-length CD features the hit (on another planet, maybe) single "Steady Goes" and 11 other sonic excursions guaranteed to tickle your earbone.

Too smart for its own good?

We don't think so . . .

Press Clips:

Baby Sue (#17 Summer 1994, Stephen Fievel)
"Absolutely stellar, shimmering, perfect pop music. Those folks at Quixotic have a better roster of bands than just about anyone around. Airlines are a totally unpretentious rock band with a rather minimal sound and real talent in the studio. The guitar work on this disc would make any mother proud. Add to that overwhelmingly incredible tunes and you've got a top-notch band to knock `em all dead. These melodies are just TOO good!"

CMJ New Music Report (#381 May 23, 1994, Steve McGuirl)
"New York City's Airlines have been around in ever-changing forms since the late `80s, recording singles for various small labels and sharing members with other New York area bands such as the Mad Scene, Speed the Plough, The Giant Mums, Lid and the Ex-Lion Tamers .. Although Wire is a definite reference point throughout Airlines, the influence never becomes distracting; instead, what continually grabs the listener's attention is Airlines' impressive mastery of textured arrangements and three-guitar dynamics. Over throbbing basslines and the sparse, steady drumming of Tom Kelley, the guitars intricately weave clean, arpeggiated chords around simple, precise, sometimes nearly droning, melody lines. The overall effect of this calculated, cerebral approach recalls Television, or even the Velvets, without actually sounding like either band...tunes like `Deja Vu', `Interval' and `10,000 Days', among others, continue to impress even after repeated listenings."

The Big Takeover (#35 July 1994, Jack Rabid)
"Add Airlines to the list of promising New York bands (at last there is a small crop). Theirs is a sprightly minimalist pop, the occasional one-chord drone uplifted by loping bass, bopping snare hits, and caustic guitar lines that encircle that steady bass. The playing is crisp-former KRAUT producer RYK OAKLEY gives them a tight mix-and simple but effective ideas run all over spaces this economical quintet leaves. Like the late `70s Wire, to whom they might be compared (as well as all the U.S. West Coast pop minimalists they inspired, such as the Urinals/100 Flowers, Sleepers, Flyboys, later Middle Class), nothing is chunky, yet the sound has depth, and the post R.E.M./Libertines plucked guitars never fail to invigorate and take unexpected paths... Investigate."

Chairs Missing (#"Mannequin" August 1994, Scott Munroe)
"...their minimalist-pop sound is a definite breath of fresh air in an increasingly hard-rock music scene."

NYPress (1994, J.R. Taylor)
"Already a seminal New York band without ever playing another chord, Airlines have been roundly ignored despite intricate guitars and great songwriting, presumably because nobody got any major-label jobs by supporting Band Of Susans."