Search - Not From There :: Sand on Seven

Australia's best album of 1998

06/30/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This extraordinary album, the product of several once-illegal immigrants - hence the band name - was probably the best release of 1998 in Australia, although in a country currently absorbed with '80s punk-retro rubbish it did not receive the attention it deserved. Highlights here are 'Juanita's Cocktail' party and 'Sich Offnen', both tracks being curving noise guitar pieces that change in tempo and timbre from traffic accidents to nocturnal melodies. Nothing you expect to happen happens on this album: weathermen mumble at you, vocalist Heinz screeches at unexpected moments, while his guitar cuts into Blixa Bargeld chainsaw buzzes and distended feedback unexpectedly. Bands haven't played like this since Sonic Youth and the Pixies were at their peak. Enjoy the best thing from Brisbane since the Saints."

Manic

07/19/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This record made me love guitar based music again. maybe because it sounds so unlike any record I have heard for a long time. The guitar is piercing at times....other times it wraps itself around you like a warm colourful blanket The drums are pounding, groove orientated, yet strangely solid within that groove. The bass somehow balances those two passionate forces and provides a comfortable bed. (make sense?) The singer channels a wide variety of themes, driving me crazy at times, making me smile other times. The songs are incredible, I love this record."