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Thirdborder: Return to the future.
Damaged and massive, lysergic and tender, a juggernaut of brain and brawn, NYC-based trio Thirdborder embraces the contradictions of modern life to produce music of uncommon power and grace.
At this pyramid's pinnacle, one Ben Miller: 55, guitarist, singer, saxophonist, a thread between rock's anarchic past and its reflective present. With brothers Laurence and Roger (the latter now leading Mission of Burma) he pioneered psych-rock in the fecund late '60s Ann Arbor scene, and later teamed up with late Stooge Ron Asheton and Michael Davis of the MC5 in the seminal art punk outfit Destroy All Monsters. Subsequent decades of probing the potentials of avant-rock culminated in Ben's forming Thirdborder in 2003.
Comprising the base is the formidable rhythm section of Gerard Smith on bass guitar and drummer Jarrod Ruby.
Smith, 45, burst onto New York's post-punk scene in 1984 with the incendiary Phantom Tollbooth, a psychedelic jazzcore triumvirate whose dizzying sound inspires to this day. (In 2003, Guided by Voices frontman Robert Pollard created new lyrics and melodies for Phantom Tollbooth's 1988 album Power Toy, releasing the resulting work as Beard of Lightning.)
Another memorable trio, Brooklyn's dance-punk phenomenon Proton Proton, was the fevered incubator for Ruby, 30, whose explosive precision behind the kit is both anchor and engine of Thirdborder.
More than the sum of their impressive parts, the mercurial Thirdborder is by turns melancholy and feral, luring with pastoral psych-pop melodies and then shattering hearts with a breathless post-punk rhythmic assault.
The world has begun to take notice: Thirdborder's second LP, Sun of Water, Sea of Light, was a candidate for Grammy nomination in the 2006 'Alternative Album of the year' category. But that's only a beginning.
The band's new album, Return Return, was recorded in 2008 at The Kennel Studio in East Williamsburg Brooklyn by NYC underground rock legend Wharton Tiers (Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr, Helmet). Featuring 10 original songs and a powerhouse cover of Laurie Anderson's art-rock epic "O Superman," Return Return has all the earmarks of a breakthrough: a synthesis of ideas, spanning three generations of progressive rock music, that will astonish and inspire.
Jim Santo
Also:
"Sun of water, Sea of light" (Radial Records; 2006) Produced by Roger Miller (Mission of Burma) and Laurence Miller (Destroy All Monsters) is available at Amazon.com , CDBaby and Ben Miller's website.
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