Go Deep, Fashion Week, Great Grief, The Netherlands

"Perhaps one of the best brooklyn rock bands to emerge in the last few years, the netherlands seamlessly balance a brutal sharpness and a kind of lighthearted shagginess; and also effectively manage to cover more musical ground in 35 minutes than most bands do in their entire careers." -village voice

"the netherlands play a kind of futuristic biker rock, featuring lurch happy riffs and a singer that slathers his voice in weird psycho effects.their set is a burst of anti-intellectual glee." -timeout ny

"the netherlands gave me balls and reinstated a deeper connection to my inner piece of ass!" -marne lucas

"the netherlands = brutality, beauty, primal scream therapy. The netherlands = sludgy rhythms that fill the air like reefer smoke, punctured by ice-cold blasts of mathy precision. The netherlands = moog bass that reconfigures your bone marrow; merciless sprays of stomp-box-damaged guitar shrapnel that leaves few survivors. The netherlands. Make me feel alive." -andee blacksugar

"going to see the netherlands is like being in a strange dusted twilight zone episode where you are 15 and that troubled trench coated junior with the ½ 'stache from two streets over got magically bestowed with profound technical competence, highly functioning equipment, a tight working band, and deep original songs. The netherlands are magnificent and ridiculous. Timo ellis plays like joe satriani with blood poisoning. A german prog-rock ghoullette backs him on walking keys and a scandinavian bar thug drummer. They are the ruling class gladiators of teen nihilism. But in a nice way." -thatcher keats

"god damn i love the netherlands. Timo ellis (yoko ono, cibo matto, joan as police woman) singing, japa keenon (money mark, daniel johnston) on drums, and ashley wallace on synth bass make dark scary sexy fun surreal funny psychedelic thrash at doom metal speeds that suddenly explode with guitar lines that give punk bands a run for their money. Using more effects pedals than health, timo warps twists funnels distorts loops re-sequences and otherwise destroys both his guitar and voice to provide a series of unholy chunky sounds that sounds like a combination of every bad trip in the 1960's happening at once and the screams of any hapless h.p. lovecraft protagonist gazing into the maw of eternity. It's not noise rock, it's noise rock but cut through with an improvisational aspect to the melody which gives songs a different sound from one performance to the next as timo adjusts and readjusts knobs based on what he feels at that moment, freeing psych-rock from the convention of careful, staid chord progressions. It's like if led zeppelin read moorcock rather than tolkien and stole from hard bop instead of blues. Ashley's synthbass provides an electronic, anti-organic edge which complements the guitar and vocalizations perfectly, allowing it to fill out the soundfloor in a very forceful manner. Japa's intense drumming requires some very abrupt time / tempo changes and full blast to rest staccato dexterity. The netherlands just may be the best band you've not yet seen. You owe it to yourself to change that. Why go see yet another tweeindiepopsynthsuperstar sing about awkward crushes when you can have your ear canals drilled clean through?" -eric phipps (kingofthegigabitches.com)