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Abzorbr

Abzorbr weaves together the “living sounds” of electric bass, a set of dented drums, a laptop full of diagonal noise, and a frantically-driven, yet, soft-spoken vocal tantrum. Expressing through the use of vague compositional templates for guidance, while still remaining sensitive to the urgent needs of spontaneity, Abzorbr demands attention.

Abzorbr: Three fine fellows out of St. Paul MN who have been striving together since the winter of 2004 to create something special.

Chris Keller (aka Kristoff Krane) : vocalist/lyricist

Casey O'Brien: laptop production and bass

Graham O'Brien: laptop production and drums

Seeking new connections and associations, Keller was introduced to Casey through Rhymesayers artist Eyedea (real name Micheal Larsen), who he had approached in the winter of 2004, in search of advice on how to become a more effective “rapper”.

During that winter Keller and Eyedea began free styling together, a link that eventually lead to Keller's invitation into “Face Candy,” the entirely improvisational jazz hip-hop experiment, ensuring his involvement as an MC during the groups summer 2005 tour.

Casey was already serving as Face Candy's bassist, and provided the introduction between Keller and his younger brother, and producing partner in crime, drummer Graham O'Brien.

It just so happened that Keller was looking for some beats to rap over, and after hearing Graham and Casey's instrumental project “dial_system,” the brothers and Keller began to work together. Soon after their first meeting the trio began recording their first project, the minimally titled Ep1.

The group draws their name from Keller's lyrics off of Ep1, from a line in the song “Goldplated Rock:” “Orphan-born endorphin absorbers.” Finishing the ten song project during the spring of 2005 Keller and Casey were able to take the CD with them on the Face Candy tour, selling 200 copies over the course of ten days—despite the fact that Abzorbr had yet to play a live set.

Abzorbr had indeed entered an infant stage of urgency and discovery.

Fresh off the Face Candy tour the members of Abzorbr came to the agreement that the musical drive and synergy that they were experiencing was something they knew had to be explored further. As a result they began eagerly spending time rehearsing in whatever basement they could, a weekly routine that the group still maintains.

At this juncture the band really wasn't sure exactly where their sound was going, though they all were undoubtedly making progress while refining their approach, a vision that has always existed outside the rigid structures of classification.

As time progressed Abzorbr began making the trek from the rehearsal space to various venues in the Twin Cities area, playing shows with whomever they could, for whatever price they could get, laying the foundations of a strong local following. It was during this time that they also began to gain recognition out of town, accompanying accomplished artist DJ Abilities on a mini-Midwest tour.

But life on the road didn't interfere with life in the studio. Evolving on the institution of their debut recording they began work in the fall of 2005 on their second project, Capable of Teetering, a full-length album which Rift Magazine hailed as: “Dark, intellectual and creative…Abzorbr teaches graduate level lyrical and musical instrumental work, and the results are stunningly beautiful and thought provoking.”

Due to financial constraints the band pressed 300 individually numbered hand water colored limited edition copies of the album, which they began selling in December of 2006. During this same period Abzorbr began to shape a musical collective with Eyedea's new rock band, Carbon Carousel (Micheal Larsen, JT Bates, Casey O'Brien, and Jeremy Ylvisaker). Shared views on using creative energy to intentionally affect others made the bands a favorable pairing for their upstart label, Crushkill Recordings.

In March of 2007, just as Abzorbr sold the last of their limited edition pressing of the album, they began constructing three new songs for the first in a series of split EP's with Carbon Carousel. Crushkill Recordings made its debut at the 7th Street Entry on March 30th as the label welcomed the official release of its first three albums: Abzorbr's Capable of Teetering, Carbon Carousel's The Some of All Things: Or The Healing Art of Scab Picking, and a six-song split EP, See-Through Eyes.

Those who were at the show know that something special happens when Abzorbr takes the stage.

Serving as much more than a simple recreation of their recordings, the band's live set always seems to start on an ego-less non-hierarchical note that wavers, providing an environment which encourages self-introspection, leading attentive listeners to the climactic point of realization.

Abzorbr also seeks to entertain the crowd by weaving unexpected instrumental solos, accapellas, and freestyles into their live show, while leaving ample space for listeners to breathe and reflect.

It is quite evident that there is no head honcho in this group—all three members are evidently aware of one another and of what each person is attempting to pry apart during a live experience. While Graham beats his drums as if it were his last chance ever to play, Casey's eyes examine the back of his brain as if he were seeking no guidance at all—just feeling. Nate Patrin of The City Pages had this to say regarding the musical chemistry that exists between the O'Brien brothers:

-“The two architects of the group's instrumentation, bassist Casey O'Brien and his brother Graham on drums, wrench a variety of moods out of skeletal samples and taut yet flexible rhythms. If there's any consistency to their sound, it's in the sheer force of the beat, which typically sounds like subterranean tremors rupturing Plexiglas and aluminum.”

At shows it is quite common for Krane to reach out and interact with the audience about some conflict or explorative realization he has encountered that day, an experience which blurs the traditionally rigid distinction between performer and recipient.

One thing that will never happen during an Abzorbr set is demands for members of the crowd to “put up their hands.” It is evident that their need for recognition is fulfilled when receptivity and sincere engagement takes place. This attitude is apparent in Krane's reply during an interview with Andrea Meyers of HowWasTheShow.com: "When you're performing, or when you hear a song, you can like fall into that wavelength where something is different--my brain, my spirit, whatever you want to call it--is experiencing something new. And when that happens there is some sort of growth."

The triple release show was an overall success. As a result Abzorbr caught the eye of local media, who had this to say about Capable of Teetering:

-“ With hip-hop rapidly approaching its 30th anniversary as a bona fide genre, it's great to see groups pushing at the edges of the form, and Abzorbr fits right in alongside locals like Kill the Vultures and Carbon Carousel and national acts like Subtle and Why? in making hip-hop that mixes boom-bap with more abstract textures and a whole lot more free association.” –Steve McPherson, The Pulse

-“Abzorbr can do twilight-lit slow tracks, they can do fast action packed tracks [proved brilliantly by Childish Perfection] and they can even fall into fuzz-induced seizures as they do in the uncontrollably compelling 1st Song Abzorbr Ever Recorded To Save Your Life. All in all, this is an album which showcases amazing talent, with all 3 members doing their utmost to make each track as rounded but still as raw-sounding as they can. Awesome.” –Sam Hekseth, CaughtInTheCrossFire.com

As a result of the buzz Abzorbr was chosen by 89.3 The Current, The Pulse, The Minnesota Music Academy and The Nomad World Pub to be the May 2007 participant in The Nomad's “Minneseries,” a showcase that features local talent.

During that month, Abzorbr shared the stage with a diverse cross-section of local groups such as Kill The Vultures, Fat Kid Wednesdays, City on the Make, and Ill Chemistry. The group used the opportunity to come even closer to the sound they have been cultivating since their inception.

The band's ability to cross genres grabbed the attention of City Pages staff writer Nate Patrin, who had this to say of the group's sound. “Abzorbr don't [sic] necessarily fit neatly into the terrain of emo's operatic, histrionic guitar rock; they're closer to the trans-genre amalgamation of other post-rap local acts such as Kill the Vultures and Mel Gibson and the Pants, starting with a hip-hop frame and expanding into a sprawl of ideas that includes everything from free jazz to laptop ambience.”

Capable of Teetering is currently in rotation at 89.3 The Current.

Abzorbr's musical endeavors to this point have been marked by a consistently anxious and empathetic tone: an urgent desire to reach out and communicate.

As their sound grows more honest the feeling of helpless anxiety—a topic which the group touched on during a recent press interview—begins to fade, "Before, I had this mindset, 'There's walls all around me, and I'm gonna do whatever I can to punch them down.' Now, I've learned that you can continue to punch the wall—but your knuckles are gonna be bloody. So you might as well just sit there and look at the wall and not say anything, and hopefully a part of it'll crumble without you touching it.”

As of now, Abzorbr has come to an extremely transitional stage in their journey. Most of their time is spent intensely refining their idea of an ideal live experience, as well as touching up their latest material, which marks some of their most concise and boiled down stabs at expression yet. These songs, as well as previously unreleased cuts, will be put on a “tour only” EP that will be sold during the December 2007 E&A tour that Kristoff Krane will be performing as a solo act.

In conclusion,

Ask yourself the question.

Are you truly ready?

Yeah….for what?

To Abzorb…

Abzorb what?

The unfathomable, indescribable, lyrically divine, spiritually inclined, instrumentally intertwined, centripetally, eclectically and fantastically designed, highly motivated, non-apathetic, holy, yet obscurely humble, force of, the one and only, the non-phony, ABZORBR.