Airstrip
Willing
Holidays For Quince Records [2013]
Fire Note Says: Willing is a promising stoner/psych debut from Airstrip!
Album Review: Airstrip is a psychedelic stoner rock band from North Carolina, masterminded by Matthew Park. Their debut lp, Willing, out now on Holidays For Quince, is not your run of the mill stoner rock album though. It’s never super hard, it’s never super heavy, and it’s not overtly psychedelic. While it has all of those characteristics, they also have a keen pop edge which always keeps the songs accessible and separates them from many bands in the genre.
Willing is a well paced record, opening with a trio of rockers in a row, “Pleasure Center” ,“Middle of Night” and “Bitching Hour” that let you know what you are in for right away. ‘Pleasure Center” in particular is a standout, recalling not just stoner rock glory, but also adding touches of mid 90’s lo-fi indie rock. Its riff is repetitive and drony, but also sleek and streamlined. The track never lumbers along, instead it weaves and darts in and out, with the vocals floating on top of the instrumental bed. After the opening trio, Airstrip, shifts gears and goes into straight psych mode, and for me, this is where the record really gets interesting. Fittingly enough, “Sleepy” has a dreamy haze like quality that builds slowly as it moves along, before climaxing and then fading out in a sea of feedback. “Happenstance” picks up right where “Sleepy” left off, and features another slow build and woozy chanted vocals, it’s another winner! After the punk explosion of “I Hit a Wall”, “So So” dazzles with its Can influenced krautrock instrumentation.
Willing is a promising debut from Airstrip. The band proves that they are more than capable of handling multiple styles of music. It will be interesting to see which direction the band decides to take on their next record.
Key Tracks: “Pleasure Center”, “So So”, “Sleepy”
Artists With Similar Fire: The Black Angels / Moon Duo / Fu Manchu
Airstrip Website
Airstrip Facebook
Holidays For Quince Records
-Reviewed by Kevin Poindexter
Born and raised in Dayton, Ohio, I am extremely proud of the area I grew up in and the influence it has had on the world at large, from the Wright Brothers to Robert Pollard, the area has been a center of innovation both technologically and artistically. During my college years at the University of Dayton, I found myself becoming more and more immersed in the local music scene, a period of time in the early to mid 90's that coincided with the rise of bands like Guided by Voices, Brainiac, and The Breeders, who added to the rich musical legacy of the area. Dayton is also the hometown of many giants of funk in the 70's and is also the birthplace of Jazz greats Billy Strayhorn, John Scofield and Bud Shank. I wrote extensively for The Fire Note, a great online magazine focused on indie rock, in the 2010's while simultaneously being a partner in Rockathon Records, before retiring from both in 2018. In 2024, my thoughts turned back to helping at Rockathon and more importantly to pick back up on my writing, and more specifically to write about my love of jazz. I'm always listening, always searching for something new, something great. It's been a lifelong journey, and I still feel like there is so much out there to hear.
- Kevin Poindexterhttps://thefirenote.com/author/kpoindexter/
- Kevin Poindexterhttps://thefirenote.com/author/kpoindexter/
- Kevin Poindexterhttps://thefirenote.com/author/kpoindexter/
- Kevin Poindexterhttps://thefirenote.com/author/kpoindexter/
