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Part concept album, part noisy art-rock explosion THE ATOM SPARK HOTEL, from New Yorks' Schizo Fun Addict, represents a collision between psychedelia, indie guitar jangle and pure pop.
THE ATOM SPARK HOTEL is a lo-fi psychedelic swirl where an old school indie guitar jangle holds centre stage while the ghosts of The Velvet Undergound float past and offer some advice. Anyone lucky enough to remember a time when indie rock used to offer something of an alternative to the bland mainstream, you know when bands wrote life affirming songs with quirky lyrics and heartpounding melodies, bands like Teenage Fanclub or The Jesus And Mary Chain adorned the covers of the NME and Melody Maker. Here covering one of those bands, namely The Frank And Walters - FASHION CRISIS HITS NEW YORK, you're instantly taken back and left pondering just how great and classic pop music this was. An attack on the absurdity of fashionable cool wrapped up in a timeless pop song, Schizo Fun Addict put their own slant on proceedings adding a boy/girl vocal dynamic and walls of deliciously warm fuzzy guitar droning.
Coming on like The Pastels by way of The Pixies, THE VENUS PROBE, starts off in a sweetly lilting manner before dropping some oversized guitar riffs and turning the distortion up to a level where you can almost smell your speakers melting. Jet Wintzer has a voice that can go between a Thurston Moore-esque drawl to psychotic scream in the blink of an eye, a style that blends perfectly when put up against the sweet sung harmonies of Jane Gabriel. Reinterpreting the title track, THE ATOM SPARK HOTEL, to accommodate a harder edged intensity Schizo Fun Addict replace the psychedelia with a frenzied guitar attack and deep bass dub that's like early Sonic Youth jamming with Burning Spear.
Playing again with that sweet girl harmonies - tough boy growl dynamic that they do so well, ERASER, tumbles along with a spring in its step before eventually collapsing under the weight of heavy duty guitar abuse, while the electronica edge that the band experiment with on SOLON marks probably their finest moment to date. Jane Gabriel singing an eerily catchy slice of pure pop, while beats and dark electronica swirls around in the background creating a hybrid between The Eels, Solex and The Pastels.
The Beastie Boys meets Sonic Youth meets The Stone Roses collage that infuses, JELLSTAR, pulls away in a different direction again - similar to what Sonic Youth did on their Ciccone project, this is experimental guitar work shot through with hip hop beats and samples.
If you can imagine a messier, noisier version of Joy Zipper then Schizo Fun Addict are where you're at. At the heart these are simple pop songs, although simple pop songs buried under walls of feedback drenched guitar abuse and joyful experimentation. Playing deliciously skewed pop thetas as messy and ragged as it is warm and fuzzy, Schizo Fun Addict are the sound of Joy Zipper being mugged by The Jesus And Mary Chain and Sonic Youth.

THE ATOM SPARK HOTEL, legendary abode where all chosen initiates must pilgrimage, work and wait for the great spirit of rock n roll to baptize.
New York City's Schizo Fun Addict are back from a three-year residence.
Their first two albums, JUST A DIMENSION AWAY (2000) and DIAMOND (2001) garnered comparisons to bands as diverse as early Velvet Underground, Sonic Youth, Aphex Twin, Bill Withers, The Stone Roses, Burt Bacharach and The Jesus And Mary Chain in the likes of Uncut, Mojo, Q and NME. So the hierarchy dispatched a sentinel who tapped them for the intricate right of passage into rock's mythical mystery school.
But first Satan intercepted the plan, offered hit singles, multifaceted sex, designer drugs and various 401K plans. The Schizo kids didn't blink, kicked the old beast in the ass and began their epic quest for the musical Holy Grail.
Step-brother and sister dynamic duo Jane Gabriel (who still hasn't spoken since she was four years old) and Jet Wintzer enlisted mad guitar scientist Hadrian Mordecai of The Spectacle Experiment to bring previously unknown sounds from his underground laboratory in Edison, New Jersey. The band is completed by long time collaborator Patrick Flynn on drums. He brings a Keith Moon meets Reni beat attack to their already hyperactive multi-personality disorder. Together they meticulously crafted the new epic masterpiece, THE ATOM SPARK HOTEL, a prismatic tribute to rock n roll, a conscious attempt at transcendence and a journey through the possibility of sound.
Three years since checking into the enigmatic dive hotel, Schizo Fun Addict have re-emerged cleansed, purified and baptized by the spirit of rock and roll. Since their debut gig at The Meany Fest in Sept 2003, they've remained reclusive, making selective appearances headlining only the most prestigious nights in NYC, Shout!, Death Disco and Tiswas.
Weaving, spinning, hypnoteasing. Lo-fi guitar beat attack. Stalking position for the battle of apocalypse. Preparing electric sermons with tangled fuzz choir on altar of overdriven wah wah. Smoke, mirrors, videos and girls kissing. Six-string scientists of soundscape collage.
Information warriors with clear vinyl degrees. C'mon and make a stand.
Coming to a mind near you.

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