PITCHBLENDE

Au Jus LP/CD

(Matador Europe; in the US, it's on Cargo)

This second Pitchblende album has been a long-awaited event. And why not? The DC foursome is one of the few bands extant who work interlocking guitar textures with forceful rhythms and angular tangents without requiring the listener to use a protractor.

Their debut, Kill Atom Smasher, got Pitchblende more than their fair share of press coverage, as did an exhaustive 1993 tour schedule. In January of '94, the band pulled into Chicago & unloaded at Idful Music, in scenic Wicker Park. With the help of engineers Casey Rice (guitarist in the Liz Phair Experience) and John McEntire (Gastr del Sol, The Sea & Cake, Tortoise) they laid down the tracks for Au Jus. The new record finds the band tangling and and untangling guitar lines across your cerebellum.

"GYGAX!" LP/CD

on Matador Europe

Pitchblende have not broken up. Since the release of their second album, Au-Jus, in 1994, members of the band have just been enjoying the good things in life that only indie-rock stardom can buy.

After a wildly successful tour, two of the members moved to New York -- Justin to be closer to his new love, the stock market, and Scott just to capitalize on a vacancy in the Dakota building. They both still maintain Washington-area residences to keep the appearance of band unity.

Treiops continued to dabble in horse racing just outside of D.C. in Silver Spring, where he keeps a stable of ponies, and Patrick roamed ths hills of his Manassas, VA farm, metal detector in hand, searching for relics of a war that pitted brother against brother.

But this well-heeled life of leisure wasn't enough to placate the artistic yearnings of these four angry young men. The pull of The Rock was too strong. So in March of last year, they secretly rented out WGNS Studios in Washington, D.C., and began work on what would become a six-month project. With their sizable advance from Cargo Records, they were able to procure the talents of engineers/producers Charles Bennington and Geoff Turner and a slew of the best studio musicians money could buy. And the world waited.

The result is GYGAX! (note all capitals), the band's most accomplished, innovative and yet accessible work to date. A more developed sense of melody meshes with pitchblende's dense yet ethereal sonic pastiche to form a cohesive unit of Rock that will knock that Papas Fritas record off of your turntable for good.

QUICK FACTS

Name: "GYGAX!" after Gary Gygax, inventor of Dungeons and Dragons
Recorded: 3/95-9/95 at WGNS
Mastered: By Jusquin DePres (ex-MAGMA)

Pitchblende Discography

• "Sum"/"Lacquer Box" 7" - Landspeed - 2/92
• The Weed Slam 7" - "Weed Slam"/"Ursa Minor"/"Ask Rexella" - Jade Tree - JT- 10/92
• Kill Atom Smasher CD/LP - Cargo/Fistpuppet - 4/93
• "Drop In the Big Drink" split 7" w/ Walleye, Rodan, and Rocket from the Crypt - Compulsiv - 10/93
• "Penny for the Guy" Working Holiday split 7" w./ Swirlies - Simple Machines - 12/93
• "Psychic Power Control"/"In the Flat Field" 7" - Cargo/Fistpuppet - 5/94
• Au Jus CD/CS - Cargo/Fistpuppet - 6/94 (in Europe, Matador 1995)
• "Nine-Volt"/"Karoshi" 7" - Pushead Fan Club (signed run of 400) - 9/94
• "Windshield Kiss" split 7" w/ Eggs - Jade Tree - 11/94
• Gygax! CD - Cargo/Headhunter - 2/95 (in Europe, Matador 1996)

COMPILATIONS:

• Simple Machines Working Holidays Comp ("Penny for the Guy" and "Flax" live)
• Mordam #3 Comp ("Windshield Kiss")
• Pushead Comp ("Nine-Volt"/"Karoshi"/"Showroom")
• WGNS Comp ("Sideling Hill")
• Chairman of the Board (Sinatra Tribute) dbl CD - "Here's to the Losers" - Dutch East