The Stumps - Split fleet dodge
Palindrone LP, 2006
"Cool New Zealand trio antics from Antony Milton and pals. From winsome electro-dribble, through into full-blown avant-rock splooie, this LP includes some splashy guest organ work by Campbell Kneale and great wobble-vibes galore."
- Thurston Moore and Byron Coley
"Great lurching psych/noise rock." - Apex-online 'Boa Melody Bar' website
"Burning." - Mimaroglu music
Placed #18 on Thurston Moore and Byron Coley's Bull Tongue Top 80 of 2006 list, in Forced Exposure (in an article originally intended for Vol. 1, No. 26 [March 2007] of the defunct Arthur magazine).
What they said...
"I love New Zealand and this fledgling supergroup are at their peak on Split Fleet Dodge. Dauntless sonic landscapes, heavy blissed-out drones, and mad-dash electronics (from none other than Mr. Birchville Cat Motel himself). All the good things about the North Island, wrapped up into one epic dripping slab of wax."
- Brad Rose in Dusted webzine
"The record opens with a ghostly keening whir, way off in the distance, murky and fuzzy... eventually drums kick in giving the proceedings a definite Dead C vibe, a laid back blown out noise rock peppered with free jazz drum splatter, that sort of careens haphazardly over thick slabs of distant distorted riffage. This goes on for a whole side, and while there are different songs, they sort of drift together into one glorious whole. Side two is similar, in that there are three songs that all seem to be movements of the same song. But this second suite starts off with wild disembodied prog keyboards, swirly and splattery, with little bits of drum damage here and there, some sort of 'noise rock prog' which is most definitely a good thing. Eventually the track morphs into a heavy, groovy, fuggy Pink Floyd seventies fuzz jam, albeit more warbly and damaged, sounding a bit like someone was fucking with the pitch control while it was being recorded. Eventually the fuzz dissipates and the track settles into a dreamy and mellow SUNNO)))-lite fade out of crumbling distant guitars and soft focus barely there melodies, a murky low end ambience that eventually fades into nothingness."
"The first side of Split Fleet Dodge is all about the slow burn, creating a slowly evolving dronescape with a subliminal suggestion of feedback and pockmarks of primal drumming. "The Movement," an extended drone piece, starts off the album with the low moaning of a multitude of disembodied spirits. The drone is fed with an undercurrent of barely-there guitar feedback squall and subtly changes tone like a languid air raid siren, gradually increasing in its urgency until a sudden blast of drums comes in like a machete chopping through a giant spiderweb. What lies on the other side, the second track "That With The Greatest Mass (Will Be Indicated)," is slowly creeping terror, B-grade horror movie score fodder. Fog clinging to mossy grave markers while shadows dart in and out of your peripheral vision, then ratcheted up a notch once the frenzied drums blast off again and you realize that yes, in fact you are being chased. On the other side of the LP, the trio is augmented by Campbell Kneale (Birchville Cat Motel) on keyboards and electronics. "Only Hook" begins as a churning, cacaphonous psych-noise circus sideshow freak out before settling into a narcotic deep space rock groove. "It Can Be To Us An Insect" wraps up the album with a mantra like keyboard note progression while occasional cymbal and guitar sounds flutter about like jagged winged moths."
- Antal Zambo, Foxy Digitalis webzine
"Although this is more traditional rock oriented music, it still goes down as prototypical New Zealand free rock/noise. Perhaps altogether a little bit more psychedelic than say Sandoz Lab Technicians (still an all time favorite of mine here), the name The Stumps has been well chosen as the work somewhere along the lines of old krautrock ideas, but in a more nineties noise rock jacket. Quite nice."
- Franz De Waard, VitalWeekly webzine
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