Because the Pee Is Silent

Pterodactyl / Spills Out (Brah)

ÒWeÕre about people being able to take whatever theyÕve created and make it their own,Ó says Pterodactyl guitarist-singer Joe. ÒThatÕs not unique in the indie rock world, but there are a lot of bands that are more about entertainment. Pterodactyl has never been about that ÐÐ for better or worse.Ó

Spills Out, Joe and drummer MattÕs recent, third album, is a bewilderingly eclectic, um, journey that roams far and wide through the indie-rock thump of ÒSchool GlueÓ and ÒSearchersÓ to ambient arcaneness like ÒSpills OutÓ and the tribal neo-psychedelicisms of ÒAphasiaÓ and ÒAllergy Shots.Ó YouÕll be scratching your head as you bounce to its pumped-up peculiarities.

ÒIn the beginning,Ó says Joe, Òthere was a central core where our focus was making this shredding stuff with this grating energy to it, and trying to create funny sounds with instruments in unconventional ways. But with this last record we took a step away from that to make something that would fit in more of a classic feeling. We set out to make songs

Even so, the Brooklyn-based bandÕs new album wasnÕt launched into with any overarching concept; it was more about discovering songs as they developed, a drawn-out process that proved exhausting but satisfying. The result is a batch of tunes that are easily accessible, mainly owing to their catchy strands of Ô80s-90s punk and indie rock bravado, but also to myriad twisted references to classic sounds from the Ô60s and Ô70s, Beatles-ish backup vocal arrangements and Hammond organ sounds.

ÒWe took that focus and fed it through this weird filter with the intent of making pop music,Ó says Joe. ÒWe approached with a ÔIf you build it they will comeÕ attitude,  like if we make something that doesnÕt sound like anything else, then thereÕll be people whoÕll say, wow, thatÕs exciting!Ó

Could be that cannabis appreciators might be PterodactylÕs biggest fans.

ÒA lot of the songs on this record are like explorations of a little idea,Ó says Joe, Òand thereÕs an obsessive quality to certain details. Ò

You certainly get a hefty load of deets in the video for ÒSchool GlueÓ (featuring members of Parts and Labor, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Ex-Models), a shot-by-shot remake of the first Superman movie. And then thereÕs the video for ÒThe Break,Ó made from 1,500 still photos that flash before your eyes at five photos a second ÐÐ a Prince record cover, a Balinese gamelan orchestra, a used condom in the street, a graveyard in New OrleansÉ

ÒThe BreakÓ is, says Joe, an experience that mental mariners can surely relate to ÐÐ though of course one isnÕt required to do anything but listen to the music. ÒUltimately , itÕs all circles and pictures with a bright light in the center of the photograph. And thatÕs all it is, just obsessing with this one little idea.Ó

OneÕs appreciation for these videosÕ hypnotic attention to detail might depend on oneÕs willingness to have oneÕs mind permanently blown. ÒThe BreakÓ is especially intense.

Matt laughs. ÒWeÕre not trying to hurt anybody!Ó






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