Click right here for free full album download: THE FLASHING ASTONISHERS - ON INVOLUNTARY BLISS (2002 KR025) On Involuntary Bliss is the third album by The Flashing Astonishers. Reviews all over the world were favorable, and it marks the first album the band produced with international distribution. Substandard Records (a subsidiary of New Red Archives) of San Francisco released it in March of 2002. It was very exciting to be included in the same organization that released a bunch of albums by Samiam, Anti-Flag, and UK Subs. In 2001 Belvy K of the Substandard band Libertine tapped FA drummer Bob Kane to play drums for a USA tour, and when they reached the west coast Bob handed a FA cd to Substandard label head John Joh, and with the encouragement of Belvy the arrangement to release On Involuntary Bliss was made.
Reviews for the album were largely complimentary. Big Takeover wrote "Layers of discordant guitar distortion come in strange melodies across the raspy vocals and grooves that make it all seem bright and shimmery. Up and down, back and forth; it's a ride, but it's a good one." Jersey Beat said "This is indie rock in the best sense of the term. This is melodic, crisp, highly listenable music. Recommended." The now defunct blog at invisibleyouth.com exclaimed "Good rock and loaded with beautiful melodies. Lots of spaciness and build-ups that will blow you away. Wow, this is really good. The dynamics and feeling on this is so great--- It's a rock record with lots of thought and time invested! There are parts where the simplicity is so comforting while there are parts that there is so much going on that it will carry you to another dimension!! This will win a few more listens at the very least!" Colorado magazine The New Scheme interviewed the band and wrote "With so many mediocre bands in the same arena as these guys doing really well on the college radio circuit, it’s hard to see this record not making a name for these guys."
After On Involuntary Bliss was released, limited east coast touring happened and another album was begun that remains in the vaults, with demoing and pre-production recordings made at Watchmen Studio and Acqrock Studios in Utica. Around this time the band played shows, mostly around upstate NY, with the likes of H2O, Nada Surf, Guided By Voices, Ted Leo & The Pharmacists, Saves The Day, Motion City Soundtrack, Selby Tigers, Longwave, Cropduster, Radio 4, Sheila Divine, Gam, Wallmen, and Martha Dumptruck Massacre. The New York Times once mentioned The Flashing Astonishers in an article about funny band-names, but they spelled the name wrong. It was funny.
As was true to form during this period of the band, there was a revolving door of cast members during the recording of On Involuntary Bliss, besides the main guitar slinging duo of Dan Musclow and Gregg Yeti. Lead vocalist Musclow recruited his then-girlfriend Allison Gates to sing the ballady "Capsized"; she also added oohs and aahs to "Stress Tank Ten". The bass position was handled alternately by David Kane, Chuck Gwynn, Joshua Lee Loomis and Gregg Yeti himself, who often wrote most of the basslines. Drums were mostly done by Bob Kane, with Chris Gajewski playing on 2 songs. The recording for this album produced the classic lineup that persists to this day of Musclow & Yeti, Bob Kane and Chuck Gwynn. Kane & Gwynn are a tandem machine, who after the nearly decade long hiatus of The Flashing Astonishers went on to play masterfully together for years with the other legendary powerhouse Syracuse band The Mandate Of Heaven.
The Flashing Astonishers disintegrated in early 2003 shortly after Gregg Yeti fled to try to tackle monetary and chemical imbalances. During the eight years the band was inactive, Dan Musclow recorded plenty of home demos that remain unreleased, Bob & Chuck pursued other musical trails, and Gregg Yeti spent the time making thousands of homemade copies of eps and albums with Gregg Yeti & The Best Lights and Leper Pony. Yeti also spent around a year in 2005 playing bass with The Mandate Of Heaven. In 2010 the band reunited for 2 shows, and in 2012 a few shows are scheduled and plans are being made to finish the old recordings and potentially pull together some new songs.
From the record label promo materials: "On Involuntary Bliss reveals THE FLASHING ASTONISHERS in their position as the missing link between indie rock, post-punk, and shoegazer dream pop. THE FLASHING ASTONISHERS own up to such various influences as MOGWAI, SUPERCHUNK, SONIC YOUTH, TEENAGE FANCLUB, & MY BLOODY VALENTINE, eschewing more modern conventional trends and indie-pop flavors. THE FLASHING ASTONISHERS never quite fall into the clone trap so many bands fall into, and this album was born to show the emo kids the art of constructive noise, and that interesting guitar tones override any mundane whining any day. While so many melodic bands try to sound like the taste of the day to "be cool", THE FLASHING ASTONISHERS create minty freshness by mixing old mentalities with new music. To describe the sound of On Involuntary Bliss, think GALAXIE 500 meets early PROMISE RING & PAVEMENT." Sounds about right.
The iconic cover art was a photo shot by John Joh taken of some mannequin in a storefront. The cd was entirely engineered on ADAT machines at Watchmen Studio with Doug White in Lockport, NY. Musclow & Yeti produced & mixed the album with Doug White, while Dave St Onge of DMS handled mastering. The liner notes feature an extremely long thank you list.
You can also get copies of the On Involuntary Bliss compact disc over at Amazon dot com for cheap, and most online shops everywhere (including iTunes). The band's first two albums are also available for download from the Koala Syndicate: Everything Is Gonna Stop (1998 KR002) and The Star Off Machine (1999 KR007)
Click right here for free full album download: THE FLASHING ASTONISHERS - ON INVOLUNTARY BLISS (2002 KR025) This is a high quality 320kbps mp3 download and includes free blessings from the pope. Please share this post with your friends! Look for more stuff from The Flashing Astonishers in the not-too-distant future.
Track Listing:
1. Four Chords
2. Stress Tank Ten
3. Elastomer
4. On Involuntary Bliss
5. Too Many Cigarettes
6. Capsized
7. Cognition
8. Advanced Studies And Seminar In New Trends
9. Pollock
10. Only Gone
11. (Only Gone Bonus Track)
Below is two videos for songs from the album. "Too Many Cigarettes" was shot by Rich Stahle of UVTV in 2002 and "Four Chords" features the audio from the old album with newer video shot at the 2010 reunion show, directed by Randy Tallo of Know The Feeling Productions.
