Storm & Stress Under Thunder And Fluorescent Lights CD

While on its self-titled debut Storm & Stress made a legitimate (if somewhat smirking) attempt to fuse avant-rock and jazz, on their sophomore effort, UNDER THUNDER & FLUORESCENT LIGHTS, any semblance of form goes out the window in favor of a series of extended minimalist improvisations, supplemented with tape samples and (sporadic) vocals. Whether this amounts to noise or cerebral, incidental music is debatable; whatever the case, kudos are in order for the three-piece's audacity.

Recorded at Electrical Audio, Chicago, Illinois in June and July 1999.

Storm & Stress: Ian Williams (vocals, guitar); Erich Ehm (bass); Kevin Shea (drums, percussion, bells).

Additional personnel: Micah Gaugh (vocals); Dan Bodwell (bass); Jim Black (drums).

2nd Rel

Alternative Press (4/00, p.102) - 4 out of 5 - "...jokes without punchlines, beats without meters, notes without staffs, developments without points of closure....with this album [they've] become so good at provoking questions, that answers...well, they simply aren't the 'point'."
Magnet (4-5/00, p.92) - "...Listening to [this LP] is a bit like trying to piece together the events of a violent space battle based upon the wreckage left in its wake....Music has been blown apart and shattered into countless pieces here, almost beyond recognition..."
The Wire (3/00, p.58) - "...Oddly engaging, generating a bizarre internal logic from unlikely sources..."
CMJ (1/24/00, pp.25-6) - "...noodly, experimental [and] warmly listenable...showing evidence of both heavy improv and ample tape manipulation....a testament to abstract minimalism that manages to give a few subtle nods to standard songwriting..."
NME (Magazine) (2/14/00, p.43) - 7 out of 10 - "...luxuriates in the boundless possibilities of chaos theory....breaking right through...the boundaries of music. And subsequently, sometimes avoids making music at all....This is so far out [it's] panoramic."