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Austin, TX-based noise-pop band Sixteen Deluxe formed in April 1994 from the ashes of the local acts Swingset and Warm Jets; originally comprising singers/guitarists Carrie Clark and Chris Smith, bassist Jeff Copas and drummer Lyman Hardy, within a year the group was hailed as the loudest on the Austin scene, attracting a rabid following with their decidedly psychedelic live sets. Early notable gigs included the infamous Chances (a now-defunct lesbian bar, presently home to Club DeVille), a two-song opening slot for Stereolab at Emo's, and a series of guerilla-style invasions of Austin house parties. King Coffey's Trance Syndicate took notice, and sent the band into the studio in August of 1994 to record their debut 7" for the legendary label: "Idea" b/w "Honey". After Hardy left the group to focus his energy on his other band, Ed Hall, drummer Bryan Bowden signed on to record Sixteen Deluxe's sole LP for the label (distributed by Touch and Go), Backfeedmagnetbabe, during Christmas of '94; Released in the spring of 1995, Backfeedmagnetbabe was met with near-hysterical critical praise, and the buzz game was officially on for the young band.
Bowden was replaced by the rock-solid and reliable K.C. Rhodes in summer 1995, and after Walton Rowell's video for "Idea" began to get rotation on MTV's "120 Minutes" (aided by the single's heavy airplay on Gibby Hayne's brief but brilliant 101X radio show), attention reached critical mass, and the band left Austin to spend most of 1995 on tour, in support slots and headlining club dates, capped off by a memorable U. S. tour supporting L. A. noisemeisters Medicine. 1995 also saw the release of the Trance compilation, Cinco Anos, with the band contributing hastily-recorded versions of two live favorites, "Giver" and "Daisy Haze", to a stellar lineup that included Cherubs, Butthole Surfers, and Roky Erickson. The band returned to Austin to record the EP Pilot Knob with Trance labelmates Crust (eventually released by the L. A. indie Genius), with Hardy returning to the fold once again to play on the recording. After too much hype, and under increasing internal pressure, in October 1996 the band passed over several lucrative offers to sign with Warner Bros., and Steven T. Hall assumed drumming duties full-time.
Recorded in San Francisco in 1997 with Austin indie legend John Croslin (The Reivers), major label debut Emits Showers of Sparks would be their only release for the label, besides the radio-only EP of demos Easy With the Sideways. Despite touring with Luna, Swervedriver, and Jesus and Mary Chain throughout 1997 and '98, and positive critical and fan response, Sixteen Deluxe's Warner stay proved extremely brief, and they asked to be let out of their contract in late 1998. WB assented, and thanks to a well-written contract, the band set about building their home studio, The Bubble.
They jumped to indie label Sugar Fix for the follow-up EP, The Moonman Is Blue, produced by Mike McCarthy (Spoon, Trail of Dead). The band spent much of 1999 in the Bubble recording material for a new album, and toured extensively again in the fall in support of the EP. Near the end of recording the album, in November 1999, Copas left the band, and his duties were assumed by Hall, with Kliph Scurlock (Flaming Lips) taking over the drum seat. The album, Vision Take Me, Make Me, Never Forsake Me, the band's final and self-produced full length, was then released to much critical acclaim in June of 2000. In July of that year Carrie Clark left the band, resulting in the end of Sixteen Deluxe.
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"It takes a certain amount of gumption to start a debut album with a cover -- and of such a spectacular song as Brian Eno's "Here Come the Warm Jets," at that. But that's what Sixteen Deluxe did, and the distorted guitar abuse evidently proclaimed a love for Kevin Shields as much as Eno, somehow pulling it off into a thrilling, energetic statement of purpose. From there the quartet made its way through a generally strong first full-length effort, with co-vocalist/guitarists Carrie Clark and Chris Smith (aka French Fry) avoiding My Bloody Valentine-style blurry singing in favor of a more direct (in part) singing approach, sometimes with additional psych tweak and distortion. Clark's slightly treated vocals on "Idea" cut strongly through the half-apocalyptic half-shimmering mix, while on "Floor 13" Smith, though understated, is still singing pretty clearly. Plenty of Shields-inspired tremolo-bending guitar dominates the music, as "Fetus," with its beautifully cascading conclusion readily shows. It isn't just Loveless redux by any means, as the foursome favors a rougher edge throughout that also suggests other roots, from the Butthole Surfers' own form of Texas guitar abuse to Big Star, whose majestic melancholia gets beautifully heightened via epic feedback abuse on a version of "Kanga Roo." "Babyheadrush" may have the more expected form of gaze glaze in the feedback, but the strung-out guitar solo cutting through it has older antecedents John Cale or Karl Precoda would appreciate. The rhythm section of Jeff Copas and Bryan Bowden (going by Bryan E. Carlos in a tip of the hat to Cheap Trick) stands out a bit less but has its moments of glory, as in providing a sudden chugging propulsion to "Now" after a howling, amorphous start, then maintaining it on the immediately following "Erotica." - Ned Raggett, All Music Guide
"Sixteen Deluxe, a psychedelic-rock quartet on its first national tour, didn't play songs so much as moods. The band topped droning feedback with rapturously vibrating chords that seemed timeless until a melodic bassline or a soft chorus gently broke the spell. The band's desire for audio perfectionism was also evident in its many between-song instructions to the club's sound mixer. The guitarists Carrie Clark and Chris Smith took pre-punk and power-pop (including a version of the Big Star song "Kangaroo") and fed them through a narcotic haze. "This is another slow one about drugs," Ms. Clark said before one song from the band's new album, "Backfeed Magnetbabe" (Trance Syndicate), before she and Mr. Smith went on to make two guitars sound like 20." - Neil Strauss, New York Times 7/21/95
"At just over two minutes in length, the instrumental "Happy Song," the first cut on The Pilot Knob E.P., shows why such a fuss has been made about Austin, Texas, band Sixteen Deluxe (which recently signed with Wamer Bros.): Although the song is grounded by a steadily throbbing rhythm section, its peels of guitar noise can scarcely be contained, and if it weren't for a rock-solid melodic hook and an overall tuneful buoyancy, the song might explode into a psychedically-colored fireball. It's this kind of energy which sustains the quartet's songs, which share the warped, yet immediate melodic sensibilities of the Flaming Lips. Like the tunes on Sixteen Deluxe's impressive 1995 debut album, Backfeed Magnetbabe, the eight songs here revel equally in noise and melody, as the guitars and vocals of Carrie Clark and Chris Smith spark arguments, settle them, and rekindle them with fiery, sometimes happy, abandon - a bit like a less angular 3Ds. Of the six originals, check out the almost joyful "Reactive," "Happy Song,' "Grandma" and "I'll Call You." The two covers (both sung by Clark) are also worthy of notice: the Kinks' "Too Much On My Mind," which generates a more reflective tone than the originals, and "There He Goes," a lonesome country ballad which Clark tears to ribbons with her acerbic vocals." - Lydia Anderson, CMJ
"In Sixteen Deluxe's official label bio, bassist Jeff Copas describes Emits Showers Of Sparks as "fireworks - shiny, sparkly explosions..." He's not wrong; while the band did polish up its style for this, its first major label release, and some of the songs do venture into neater and more controlled territories, this Austin quartet ultimately retains its edge. The band's music has not become tame, just a bit more sonically stable. It still delivers up an unearthly sort of slow rock, heavy on the distortion, some numbed, mostly female vocals, and bizarre, spacey noises, only now it's all a bit more structured. Listening to "Let It Go, for instance, provides an encounter with clarity. Is's a deftly performed song that glides along without ever losing direction. But as Emits... progresses, the songs get more adventurous and interesting as more instruments and effects are poured into the mix. "Lullaby" somehow manages to obtain an undeniable tenderness by combining martial percussion with surging analog sounds and rich, dreamy vocals. The real experiment, however, begins at the end of the disc. The last listed track, "Honey," bleeds into an untitled track that, in turn, crashes dramatically into yet another hidden track. The result is a 16-minute whole that works just as well in pieces as it does together, and is inspired in its changes. It moves from Honey"'s sludgey extremes into a soaring psychedelia and ends on a bittersweet, Mazzy Star-esque note. In the end it is clear that Sixteen Deluxe has not joined the mainstream, rather they are inviting the mainstream to come along with them." - Kelso Jacks, CMJ
"On its major-label debut, artful Austin quartet Sixteen Deluxe offers a witty pastiche of clean-cut '80s pop layered with up-to-the-second guitar-and-electronica distortion. Blistering power chords and beguilingly off-kilter vocal harmonies from Carrie Clark and Chris Smith make ''No Shock (in Bubble)'' the most rousing cut, but there's enough dark noise roughing up the disc's dozen pretty melodies to keep the sweetness in check. B+" - Mark Bautz, Entertainment Weekly
"Mankind has still not understood time. Does the theory of relativity really explain how one moment can last a lifetime? How a lifetime can seem like minutes? The way 2:45 on a beat-up vinyl 45 can stop time? Afraid not. Can scientists explain why the boys and girls in Sixteen Deluxe have finally followed up their sizzling major-label debut Emits Showers of Sparks with an 18-minute indie EP? Having seen their sole Warner Bros. album come out nearly two years ago already, January 1998, the Austin quartet's new release arrives in stores Tuesday feeling long overdue. Recorded in the band's South Austin studio -- built with a severance-of-contract settlement from the label -- The Moonman Is Blue defies corporate and conventional marketing wisdom ("Who buys EPs?!?") and succeeds in being well worth the wait. A teaser for an upcoming full-length on the band's own Figure Eight label (in partnership with L.A.'s Sugar Fix Records), six tracks and 18 minutes flash by in the blink of an eye, but are a fantastic journey nonetheless -- 3/5 mile in 10 seconds. "Sibhashian" opens with a typically gleeful burst of psychedelia, a big, woozy riff falling into a warm, familiar pool of Eno-esque Jacuzzi jets and ending with prerequisite backfeedmagnetbabe. "Over and Over" locks down the trademark 16D sound, a storm of chaos swirling around steel-girder hooks and melodies, while Carrie Clark's dreamy, processed vocals beckon from the eye of the hurricane. "The 1st Go-Round" lurches around in a vaguely Ed Hallian fashion, while closer "At the Fallout" grins like a cracked mirror. Not counting two short instrumental connectors, there are actually only four songs on The Moonman Is Blue, but who's counting when you're having a good time?" - Raoul Hernandez, Austin Chronicle
"...Vision Take Me Make Me Never Forsake Me, is sadly Sixteen Deluxe's swan song as a band, coming along after what seemed like positive steps in their lengthy career (including starting their own recording company, Figure Eight, and building their own studio, The Bubble, back home in Austin). Unfortunately, it also comes along a few years after the band's major-label debut, Emits Showers of Sparks, waned off the Warner Bros. sales spreadsheets despite a cluster of gleaming reviews and good word of mouth... (t)he group soldiered on with new recordings, this time focusing on highlighting the voice of guitarist/songwriter Carrie Clark, which had -- in the past -- often been buried in Frenchie's (aka Chris Smith) flurry of loud My Bloody Valentine-meets-old Flaming Lips guitar scree. The result here is that Clark's voice really shines for perhaps the first time, like a diamond in the rough. Some of VTMMMNFM's finest moments come midway through, but this one soars from 00:01. "Slat Rubry" rocks with sublime MBV-sounding vocals and '60s tambourine and raw power tom-tom vibe, and tumbles into the sonic tumult of "The Falling Last Season." Then there's a pyschedelicized fuzzed-out cover of David Crosby and the Byrds' hippie-fied Fifth Dimension freak-out, "What's Happening?!?!" "The King Fisher" is pure blissed-out pop and features Clark's gorgeous, heartstring-tugging voice hitting all those hooky notes. Sadly, this was issued just as the band -- while on their final U.S. tour -- decided to call it a day. Bryan Thomas, All Music Guide
"Considering the title, Vision Take Me Make Me Never Forsake Me, you can pretty much bet there's heavy lyrical and sonic traffic weaving in and out of this Sixteen Deluxe record. For the most part, the Austin trio has toned down the guitar squall of its previous efforts and forged ahead with a mind-altering cocktail of pop rock, embellishing the standard instrumentation with cellos, mellotrons and tambourines. Granted, VTMMMNFM contains glorious screeches of feedback that give the listener gooseflesh, and walls of distortion for your rocking-out pleasure, but this is a kinder, gentler Sixteen Deluxe. The confectionary vocal harmonies of Carrie Clark and Frenchie float dreamily, ultimately reeling you into this noisy and atmospheric pop collection." - Amy Sciarretto, CMJ
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