Reviewed :: Circus Devils - Capsized! | Happy Jack Rock Records #27

Since 2001 Robert Pollard, Tim and Todd Tobias have been quietly releasing unconventional and arresting records under the Circus Devils moniker. The band is if nothing else incredibly consistent, with each record bringing an element of the unexpected. Capsized! the trio's new and overall ninth offering was released last month is no exception. The album opens with To England With Tigers, the first of (count em') four instrumentals on the album which lend to the Capsized! cinematic feel and provides this varied collection with some breathing room from track to track. What follows is the the title track, complete with a twinkling piano and scuzzy guitars. If Circus Devils ever had a radio ready single, that is if commercial radio didn't completely suck, that song would undoubtedly be Cycopean Runways. That track is far an away the surprise of the set and easily the poppiest track to ever grace a Circus Devils album.

Circus Devils have always seemed to be Pollard's most polarizing outfit even for Pollard completists , but for the better part of the last 11 years it's featured some his most inventive and spirited output. Pollard makes a case for this throughout Capsized! , notably on the blissed out soft rock of Legendary Breakfast Code and it's nostalgic chorus "It's such a coffin sailboat everyday, I miss your legendary breakfast code" and again on the mid set stomper Leave The Knife Curtis with Pollard delivering spoken word verses a midst sinister and fuzzed out rhythms.

Capsized! deftly marries contrasting genres such as prog, soft rock, radio ready pop, and terrifying soundscapes, while retaining the trio's odd ball charm. Circus Devils have issued their most cohesive and mesmerizing LP to date. At times unconventional and even challenging, but ultimately it's completely spellbinding.

Circus Devils - Cyclopean Runways by ashgrayproclamation

This Weeks Short Bursts :: Circus Devils, Twerps, + Hallelujah The Hills

Just when we've finally got our heads wrapped around Let It Beard, the sprawling opus from Boston Spaceships, released last month and reviewed by us here. Robert Pollard is ready to let another batch of songs loose. On October 25th Pollard returns with his creep pop trio, Circus Devils and the 19 track Capsized! Once again the album was recorded with brothers Tim (music) and Todd Tobias (instrumentation, noises, and production) somewhere between Dayton and Waterloo Sound in Kent, OH.

From the Capsized! press release:

Circus Devils hits the high seas with CAPSIZED! (The exclamation point is part of the title). Once again the Ohio trio featuring Robert Pollard defies and transcends musical genres with a strangely coherent blend of soft rock, aggressive stompers, creepy soundscapes and a radio-friendly pop single (Cyclopean Runways). CAPSIZED! Is cinema for the ears, taking the listener on a dark adventure with strange cargo, sirens, shipboard ghosts and bad soup.

Capsized! will be issued by Happy Jack Rock Records on October 25th, but there doesn't seem to be any pre-order info available at the usual Pollard web haunts. We assume that pre-orders will be up shortly at The Factory of Raw Essentials, in the meantime you can order the album from Insound and Midheaven. But until then you can bask in the direct pop glory of Cyclopean Runways from Capsized!

Circus Devils - Cyclopean Runways by ashgrayproclamation

Melbourne's rising jangle pop phenoms Twerps will issue their self titled debut long player on October 18th via NJ's Underwater Peoples and Australia's Chapter Music. For the uninitiated, Twerps specialize in warm, infectious pop songs, crystalline guitar lines, with intelligent lyrics. The band brings to be mind Galaxie 500, The Feelies as well New Zealand's 80's Flying Nun roster but manages to bring new life and something completely unique to those influences. Over the course of a couple 7" and a limited run cassette release Twerps have committed their charming songs to hissy 4-track tape, but the new album finds the band cleaning up their sound a bit and recording in a professional studio with engineer Jack Farley (Beaches). Check out Dreamin from their soon to be released debut. In addition, all of the bands previous releases can be heard and streamed at their Bandcamp page, so dig in.

Twerps: "Dreamin"

We finally have some news to report on the Kickstarter funded third release from Hallelujah The Hills. In a post that recently appeared on the bands official web home HTH fronter, Ryan Walsh gives what we would call a status update on the album. The songs have been recorded, the artwork has been created, the title has been bestowed, and now it's time to get the tracks mixed. Understandably this information doesn't offer a lot in the way of new material, however Hallelujah The Hills recently recorded a session for locals Sleepover Shows where they offered stripped down version of two new tracks, Hungry Ghost Extraordinaire and Call Off Your Horses. If after hearing those you need more, we recommend that head over to the Hallelujah The Hills and The Stairs Bandcamp Pages and grab the digital reissues of The Stairs catalog, Wash's bedroom pop project, The Motel Candlewasters, and lets not forget last springs outing of the HTH track Every Number Has A Potency. Those should hold us over until we get our mits on album #3.

[Video] Hungry Ghost Extraordinaire
[Video] Call Of Your Horses

Hallelujah The Hills play Great Scott on Wednesday September 28th with Earthquake Party! and The Fagettes

Hallelujah The Hills Bandcamp|The Stairs Bandcamp| HTH Official

Transmissions :: Circus Devils - I Razor Kickstarter Campaign

A Kickstarter campaigned has been launched to assist in financing a Circus Devils full length film, I Razor. A $20 dollar donation will get you a copy of the film on DVD. It will not be available commercially and is limited to a run of 1,500. This is sure to be a spectacle of both sight and sound.

I RAZOR stars Steve Five (The Library is On Fire) as the Sgt. and Cory Race as the Professor. Music and direction by Todd Tobias. Songs by Circus Devils (Robert Pollard, Todd Tobias and Tim Tobias).

+ The project has just met it's goal of $1,500, but you can still contribute to the project until August 8th and we recommend you do so.

For more information on the forthcoming film/DVD visit the Circus Devils I Razor Kickstarter page.

Be afraid.