Archers Of Loaf All the Nation's Airports CD

Hints of intrigue, some seemingly pulled from the nation's headlines, litter the song titles and lyrics, casting dark shadows over this cinematic, mid-tempo music. Most of the songs are constructed in multiple parts, and some are sequenced as suites. The trio of "Worst Defense," "Attack Of The Killer Bees" and "Rental Sting" opens with a deep punky row, moves into feedback and crashed into a sonically spiky folk song. Eric Bachmann's cracked voice narrates with a grand touch of melancholy, and the band's riffs support him to the end. It is advised that you do not leave your seat until this album taxis all the way to the terminal.

After the near-revolutionary fervor of 1995's VEE VEE, the Archers Of Loaf's third album sounds restrained and introspective. Which is not to say the no-longer-indie Archers are now spewing personalized singer-songwriter fodder. ALL THE NATIONS AIRPORTS is a Raymond Carver-esque collection of thematically-entangled short stories, tied together by score-like passages that genuinely imply action. AIRPORTS is still pungent with the Archers' patented musical expression--detuned strings a la Sonic Youth and Pavement, great mid-song turns that recall pure-popsters and math-rockers alike, the occasional punk moment--but the unadulterated indie-rock anthems of the past have been grounded.

Archers Of Loaf: Eric Bachmann, Eric Johnson, Matt Gentling, Mark Price.

Spin (10/96, p.138) - 7 (out of 10) - "...they play folk-noise punk that's a relief from the secondhand doom, tissue-paper sexiness, and wooden rage all around them. If ALL THE NATIONS AIRPORTS, the Archer's third album, suffers from a road band's insularity, a dozen small improvements in execution and excitement more than compensate..."
Alternative Press (3/97, p.60) - 3 (out of 5) - "...[along with] the Loafers' trademark...uneven guitar squealing and beefy indie rock....AIRPORT distinguishes itself in its distracting interludes....Apart from the occasional quirk, AIRPORTS is an Archer triumph."
NME (Magazine) (9/21/96, p.53) - 7 (out of 10) - "...This sounds like an album made by four different bands, three of which are pretty bloody good..."