BLACK HELICOPTER
Boston’s Black Helicopter rides a fine line between mechanical, grinding, cyclical rhythms and sparse, yet intricate, airy psych-outs with addicting pop melodies embedded within.
The songs are a natural evolution of their Boston post-punk roots with vast experience in previous bands (Green Magnet School, Kudgel, Blacktail.)
Guitarist and lead vocalist Tim Shea erects sturdy narrative windows into the depths of the doldrums of sad sacks everywhere. His vocals provide a brooding tongue-in-cheek compliment to the band’s rich songscapes, which are traversed by rugged guitar exploration and interspersed with infectious, off-kilter tonal depth. Can Keskin crafts sonic tendrils that add rich texture and compliment Shea’s distinct gesturing. Anchoring it all with bombast and determination, Mike Davis and Matt Nicholas lay down the slabs to hold it all up. Black Helicopter take no orders from passing trends instead, they clear their own wide swath. After a stint on Ecstatic Peace Records, they now embark on new mission to release a succession of smaller-scaled releases of various formats.
Black Helicopter has had the honor of sharing the stage with the likes of Sonic Youth, Thurston Moore, Mission of Burma, Killing Joke, J. Mascis, Shellac, Archers of Loaf, Kurt Vile, deerhoof, Obits, Disappears, Fucked Up, Dead Meadow, Witch, Easy Action, Harvey Milk, The Shipping News, and Sunburned Hand of the Man.
“Black Helicopter are the real deal, a classic sense of rock heaviness and infectious melody in league with Satan, but they are their own thing, deep and distinctive.”
