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The Skaters

The Skaters are one of the darlings of the american noise/drone scene alongside, Double Leopards, Wolf Eyes, Axolotl and the likes. The name reportedly comes from a poem and has nothing to do with the sport (I couldn't possibly associate skateboarding and this kind of music). Most of the group's work is based in drone, with the unstable slabs of noise being egulfed in a particularly lo-fi environment resulting in some of the most intoxicating distorted soundscapes this side of the insane asylum. These drones are often created by vocals (which range from screams, yelps, whines and cries, all behind thick walls of reverb) and sporadic melodies (if there are any at all). Matthew Bower of Sunroof!, Total and Skullflower is a huge fan (even devoting a column about them on the Volcanic Tongue website).

It was the comparisons to Double Leopards that made me want to hear The Skaters in the first place. I had to squeeze them into my busy music purchasing schedule but I didn't have the budget to get everything in one shot, so I bought the Crowned Purple Gowns directly from Lal Lal Lal (they seem to change labels from one release to the other!). Extremely prolific, there isn't a fortnight that goes by without a new release by the duo of James Ferraro and Spencer Clark. They also have many side projects (which seems to be a trend among these noise-freaks!).

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