Lightning Bolt is the collaborative duo of Brian Chippendale and Brain Gibson. They've created some of the most distinct noise rock music ever, with the band still releasing music and touring after 22 years. What makes Lightning Bolt so captivating is the pure energy in their music, and the sheer uniqueness of their sound. No one else makes music like Lightning Bolt.
Chippendale and Gibson met at Rhode Island School of Design and found commonality in the improvisational style of their playing. This has maintained one of the highlights of the group; through simple, repetitious song structures, the two members play off of each other freely. The band's origins lie in Japanoise scene and Japanese noise rock, such as Boredoms or Incapacitants. The group, with only two members, has obvious restrictions but they have made it their mission to do as much as they can in the limitations.
Both members of Lightning Bolt push their instruments to strange extremes. Gibson plays a very un-traditional bass guitar, tuning it to a cello's pitch and even adding banjo strings to create a more dynamic palette. Chippendale plays drums with such speed and ferocity, it's easy to get swept up in the sonic assault. The vocals are ear-grabbing as well, strung through a mask on Chippendale's face and distorted beyond recognition.
This album, "Wonderful Rainbow", may be the band's most well-received and iconic of their sound. From the distorted peals of noise on "Hello Morning" to the virtuosic bass solo in "2 Towers", this album is incredibly noisy. It's not near the levels of straight noise, but the face-melting assault was and is a breath of fresh air from the stagnant scene they came from. The album carved them a permanent niche in the noise-rock community, which was only heightened by their insane live shows. This album finds Gibson and Chippendale not looking for inspiration outside themselves, but really allowing themselves room to forge their own way.
Fantastic, seminal noise rock album. Links below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJleaLhyB8s ("Longstockings")
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bbNmXMLImg ("Assassins")
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Z5BJ_s9EtM ("Dracula Mountain" Live)
http://tinyurl.com/jonwhea (MEGA)
http://tinyurl.com/z3w8ok2 (FileFactory)
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