The Northern Rattle, Thousand Sun Broadcast

reviewed by dave heaton

The sun is scattered throughout the songs on the Northern Rattle’s album Thousand Sun Broadcast as an image, and I can’t help but thinking that the speaker on the car is painted orange to resemble the sun. Early in the album the sun as an image seems linked to volume and velocity: bigger, brighter, faster. The duo of Mike Karadimos and Chris Jeely plays loud guitars and drums mostly, in a spare setting on minimalist rock songs, with post-punk and Sonic Youth overtones, as well as your basic, timeless blues-rock base. “Play your song louder louder man!”, they sing on “Louder Louder Man!!”, a ‘60s-typed rave-up, with (of course) louder guitars. It could be their credo. As the album proceeds it gets stranger, with a psychedelic side reminiscent of both haunted-folk songs and the Doors. The sun also seems to become more of a mystical or mythological presence in that context: a grand, glowing mystery.

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