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Psychedelic party rockers Wild Wild Wets recently returned from a West Coast tour with local garage coldwavers Barbarian, during which they released their debut Criminal Blue EP via Grizzly Records, who will have a limited run of 300 blue 7" vinyl available this spring.
“It’s Mikey’s vision,” drummer Marco Piro told the Reader last October, referring to singer Mike Turi.
“It’s his world that he’s created. He’s very Andy Warhol–esque, but not all weird in the bad way. He’s a very creative person, a doer, an artist, and one of the best painters I’ve ever met. He’s a multifaceted individual. So he’s like the good parts of Warhol, but not a pervert or any of that shit.”
A week after Criminal Blue dropped, Turi offered a deeper look into his world via the Everyday Obstacle EP from his formative solo project, Emerald Rats.
Like minimalist dispatches from the collective unconscious, Everyday Obstacle explores a darker, more ambient and beat-oriented sound than those that Turi has pursued in the past with Wild Wild Wets, Trap Gold, and The Old In Out.
“Heat So Heavy” really captures Turi’s ominous, baritone Morrison howl (listen when he sings “love is hot like a burning fire”), while his cover of The Kinks “I Need You” at the end of the EP showcases the synth-heavy aesthetic that permeates the album.
Taking his name from a Kim Fowley lyric, Emerald Rats will play his first gig on Saturday, March 9 at The Casbah with Brooklyn bands Darwin Deez and Caged Animals, Turi's old friends including a former bandmate from the East Coast.
“It’s been exciting to be able to create on my own after years of always depending on guitar players and more to work with in order to make music,” writes Turi.
“Maybe one day I'll learn the guitar, but with these small hands, arthritic from the [inflammatory joint disease] Ankylosing Spondylitis, who knows?
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/feb/19/40441/
"I do prefer to create with others, though. Even when I was in school for painting I always did my best work with a good group of like-minded and/or similarly determined artists. Emerald Rats, however, offers other benefits as a songwriter & the independence is extremely refreshing.
“It’s a lot of texturing for these [songs]. I just get high & weird and make simple chord changes and create a structure, then add what I feel necessary to the songs identity. Usually starting with the drums, then the rest is mostly all synth, though I did mess with a bass guitar a bit on some of these tracks.
“The sound differs from the previous bands I've worked with because it’s more beats driven. The simplicity of the loops gives it, for me, a sort of hip-hop/dance music vibe underneath, but then I add a synth cherry on a mud sundae over it, add on the lyrics, then tweak the hell out of it & send it to Keith Sweaty [Keith Milgaten of Jamuel Saxon] to master."
Look for an upcoming release of single "Heat So Heavy" featuring remixes by Keith Sweaty, Bruin, Caged Animals, and more, due in March.
Psychedelic party rockers Wild Wild Wets recently returned from a West Coast tour with local garage coldwavers Barbarian, during which they released their debut Criminal Blue EP via Grizzly Records, who will have a limited run of 300 blue 7" vinyl available this spring.
“It’s Mikey’s vision,” drummer Marco Piro told the Reader last October, referring to singer Mike Turi.
“It’s his world that he’s created. He’s very Andy Warhol–esque, but not all weird in the bad way. He’s a very creative person, a doer, an artist, and one of the best painters I’ve ever met. He’s a multifaceted individual. So he’s like the good parts of Warhol, but not a pervert or any of that shit.”
A week after Criminal Blue dropped, Turi offered a deeper look into his world via the Everyday Obstacle EP from his formative solo project, Emerald Rats.
Like minimalist dispatches from the collective unconscious, Everyday Obstacle explores a darker, more ambient and beat-oriented sound than those that Turi has pursued in the past with Wild Wild Wets, Trap Gold, and The Old In Out.
“Heat So Heavy” really captures Turi’s ominous, baritone Morrison howl (listen when he sings “love is hot like a burning fire”), while his cover of The Kinks “I Need You” at the end of the EP showcases the synth-heavy aesthetic that permeates the album.
Taking his name from a Kim Fowley lyric, Emerald Rats will play his first gig on Saturday, March 9 at The Casbah with Brooklyn bands Darwin Deez and Caged Animals, Turi's old friends including a former bandmate from the East Coast.
“It’s been exciting to be able to create on my own after years of always depending on guitar players and more to work with in order to make music,” writes Turi.
“Maybe one day I'll learn the guitar, but with these small hands, arthritic from the [inflammatory joint disease] Ankylosing Spondylitis, who knows?
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/feb/19/40441/
"I do prefer to create with others, though. Even when I was in school for painting I always did my best work with a good group of like-minded and/or similarly determined artists. Emerald Rats, however, offers other benefits as a songwriter & the independence is extremely refreshing.
“It’s a lot of texturing for these [songs]. I just get high & weird and make simple chord changes and create a structure, then add what I feel necessary to the songs identity. Usually starting with the drums, then the rest is mostly all synth, though I did mess with a bass guitar a bit on some of these tracks.
“The sound differs from the previous bands I've worked with because it’s more beats driven. The simplicity of the loops gives it, for me, a sort of hip-hop/dance music vibe underneath, but then I add a synth cherry on a mud sundae over it, add on the lyrics, then tweak the hell out of it & send it to Keith Sweaty [Keith Milgaten of Jamuel Saxon] to master."
Look for an upcoming release of single "Heat So Heavy" featuring remixes by Keith Sweaty, Bruin, Caged Animals, and more, due in March.