Album Review: Bailterspace - Strobosphere + Win a Copy on Vinyl!

Bailterspace are one of New Zealand’s most influential indie rock bands. Sonically intense, yet still possessing a keen sense of melody, Bailterspace play loud, noise-inflected rock; huge sheets of distorted guitar intertwined with pulsing rhythms. The band formed in Christchurch in 1987 by former Gordons guitarist, Alister Parker – someone who is no stranger to excessive feedback levels, as classic Gordons cuts such as “Future Shock” illustrate – and The Clean drummer Hamish Kilgour. After some line-up changes, the new Bailterspace configuration came to include John Halvorsen (bass) and Brent McLachlan (drums) – both originally in the Gordons with Parker. Bailterspace adopted a more refined approach than the Gordons’ discordant noise tactics, with a strong focus upon texture and atmosphere. Parker’s massive, droning guitars provided much of this texture, with Halvorsen’s bass ebbing and flowing through the feedback, and McLachlan’s persistent drums punctuating the dissonant sonic canvas.

After a slew of critically-acclaimed albums throughout the '90s, Bailterspace disappeared off the radar after 1998's Solar.3. A retrospective compilation appeared in 2004, frontman Alister Parker played a number of solo shows -- largely drawing upon the Bailterspace discography -- and a reconfigured line-up took the stage at New York's Bowery Ballroom in 2008, minus long-time bass player John Halvorsen. And now, some four years after that appearance, here we have Strobosphere, the band's first new material in over 15 years. The New York-shot promo photos show just Parker and McLachlan, indicating that Halvorsen is now out of the equation. New material from bands who have left such an inspiring legacy is always a dicey proposition. The ultimate question is, how does Strobosphere stack up to such classics as Vortura and Robot World? Pretty bloody well....

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