THE CASTRATI MENACE by ELDRIDGE RODRIGUEZ
— Big Dead Heart —
— Don’t You Feel Bad —
— PIANO #3 —
— Stay Angry —
— Social Graces Vigilante —
— Giving Myself Over to Boston —
— U Lock Justice —
— Blame it on Our Youth —
— Everyone I Know —
— The Castrati Menace (Continuous Mix) —
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MDRF032 | October 2015 | 91:00 | Full-Length Digital Download
The Castrati Menace wades in a deep pool of various genres, which fluidly mix to make up the nine single tracks on the album. The bands influences are on full display, sliding between each other on each track. Noise-pop and glitch, anthemic guitar rock and electro beats, Industrial indie with sonic slacker abandon, romantic tributes meet with dissonant tones, blips, buzzes and screams. The albums lyrics tend to revolve around themes of failure, redemption, acceptance, friendship in the face of overwhelming adversity and failure again. There is the tongue in cheek, love/hate, take a swing at your-hometown-miss and fall sway. Contemplation of the time that will come when you’re gone and your friends are still here. Good old fashioned traffic revenge. Dance music for kids who like to dance alone. Modern blues. The Castrati Menace (Continuous Mix) is the tenth track. We beg you to listen to it (“please, please please”). The Castrati Menace (Continuous Mix) is the the entire album sequenced with interstitial music in between connecting the nine single tracks and presented as a complete work. While all 9 individual tracks will be available as separate downloads, the 10th track pulls all the ideas together and presents it as a cohesive digital album. It’s how, if we had our druthers, we’d prefer it be presented. It wouldn’t work as a vinyl or cd release because the it’s designed not to be interrupted. We figured since The Castrati Menace was a digi release we should do something special. So The Castrati Menace (Continuous Mix) is kind of like a remix of the entire album with a ton of extra material not available in the singles. It’s the concept and the execution, and we hope you’ll consider giving it some time.
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“As co-founder of both NY/Boston noise pop outfit The Beatings and Midriff Records Cameron Keiber has been responsible for some of the finest releases within the northeast’s indie rock landscape. His current project and main songwriting vehicle Eldridge Rodriguez is no exception. With impressive releases like The Conspiracy Against Us and 2011′s You Are Released already to their credit the bands forthcoming LP, The Castrati Menace has been garnering some pre release buzz.
The LP opens with the squealing and fuzz drenched Big Dead Heart which sets the tone for the 9 track noise rock triumph. The Castrati Menace finds Cameron Keiber turning in arguably his strongest song cycle to date which Eldridge Rodriguez balances with electronics, screeching walls of distortion and a propulsive drumming courtesy of Dennis Grabowski and aided by bassist David Grabowski and guitarist Clayton Keiber. What’s most striking about this LP isn’t the moments of cacophony as enthralling as they are,but the songs themselves which stand up individually and all manage to be all uniquely engaging. Tracks like Giving Myself Over To Boston and Stay Angry are examples of Keiber’s ability to write bracing rock songs with quantum size pop hooks. Throughout The Castrati Menace Eldridge Rodriguez deliver 9 tales of cathartic and arresting noise rock while turning in one of the most satisfying listens of the year.” — THE ASH GRAY PROCLAMATION
“Eldridge Rodriguez is the current project and songwriting moniker of Cameron Keiber, formerly frontman of Boston indie band the Beatings. Eldridge Rodriguez’s last release was 2011’s You Are Released, and soon, the band — which also includes members of Louder My Dear — will return with their fifth album, The Castrati Menace. The upcoming record explores themes of nature, religion, and entitlement, and seeks forgiveness and redemption, but in an aggressive, disparaging toned. Castrati were Italian classical male singers, whose high tenor and soprano voices were produced by castration before puberty. The band’s new single, “Big Dead Heart,” counters Castrati youth and falsetto with growling vocals, noisy drums, and flippant lyrics that speak of pain and a “hateful kind of wit.” Whenever Keiber sings in a calm reflective voice, his thoughts and music soon build into screams that refuse to rehash the past, “because it’s just a little heart attack.” — Lisa Brown, STEREOGUM
“For today’s lesson we’ll be focusing on The Castrati Menace which is beyond incredible and another tale of “Wow, I really missed the boat with this band”. It’s everything that is right in music today. And definitely inimitable. I keep trying to type a “….sounds like….” or “____ is reminiscent of ____” but nothing comes to mind (Although, Mission Of Burma would be an obvious comparison if we’re talking sonic awesomeness). All I can say is that if you haven’t jumped on the “Rodriguez” train yet then you’re definitely missing out on some great rawk. “Big Dead Heart” is propelled forward by Cameron Keiber’s soulful barks while Dennis Grabowski delivers these bombastic drum lines, pairing nicely with David Grabowski’s low strums on the bass. “Don’t You Feel Bad” is this perfect driving anthem that marches along at ludicrous speeds as Cameron and brother Clayton trade one fuzzed out riff after another. “Piano, #3” is pure Americana put through a sonic food processor (Is that a thing?) with Cameron’s layered vocals creating a remarkable wall of sound. Almost like a new Sugar track or some great unreleased Bob Mould masterpiece (And yes, I know Mould fronted/created Sugar), “Social Graces Vigilante” hits all the right alt-rock notes while “U-Lock” is 21st Century post-rawk at its’ best as Cameron Keiber spouts distorted non-sensicals amidst air raid sirens and a galloping drone thanks to the Grabowski brothers. “Blame Our Youth” carries on some of that post-something vibe crossed with something Chris Connelly might’ve conjured up in his post-Ministry years. The hypnotic hum of “Everyone I Know” follows and serves as the calm before the storm that is the title track, which also happens to be a non-stop mix/reprise of the entire album! Unique? Yeah, Eldridge Rodriguez has you covered in that department.”— ROCK AND ROLL FABLES
“You know how you like Interpol but kind of think they’ve been faking lately? Boston’s Eldridge Rodriguez tells the rock ’n’ roll truth with the requisite boom and gloom. And you can dance to it (check out “Stay Angry”) or just mope in a dark corner of the bar with a glass of Fernet Branca (spin “Everyone I Know”).” — BOSTON HERALD