Tone Rodent by Tone Rodent

Tone Rodent was named as a semi-finalist for the Midwest Independent Music World Series 2005 held by Disc Makers. This Chicago contest showcases independent musicians, offers the ability to make industry contacts, and gives the chance to win $35,000 in prizes. See www.discmakers.com/imws for details. In April 2005, TR was informed that they are a finalist to play at the Chicago based music festival Mobfest

Favorite Aspects of the St. Louis Music Scene: Readers Write In Riverfront Times

""When rock & roll becomes self-referential, it is as inane and purposeless as the visual arts at their worst. (Note well: The garage is that part of one's home that eventually becomes a depository for broken gadgets and yesterday's mildewy bored-game sensations.) There is, however, a quite dissimilar path one may travel, one which leads through vast expanses -- strange hieroglyph bleeps and buzz-saw horizons. Red with purple flashes?

""Tone Rodent, by their press-kit admission, play ""Post-Maximalist Hard-Psych-Dreamcore"" music, a genre some of you may recognize by its alternate nom de plume, ""Space Rock"" (or, as I like to chuckle dryly to companions over a snifter of Asti, ""Soundtrack for Exploding Fudge Noir""). In truth, however, each of these descriptions captures only a fragment of Tone Rodent's overall output. When appearing as an effects-laden guitar duo, the partners produce screeching noise alongside gentle hums as the occasional crackle of feedback or the sound of a tortured cable loops on and on, providing jerky cadence to the washes of distortion. At other times, one encounters Tone Rodent as a stutteringly melodious four-, five- or six-member band flaunting very danceable rhythms in addition to the aformentioned screeches, washes and looping disconnection. Either way, the best possible condition for a live experience of the group is slightly more than slightly inebriated, eyes closed, swaying and stumbling as patterns converge and morph just behind one's eyelids.

""With the rising popularity of imports like Sigur Rós and Mogwai, as well as the eastward thrust of California Shoegaze (as typified by the Warlocks or Black Rebel Motorcycle Club), I foresee a day when the sweaty guitar of anti-frontman Adam Watkins will be held aloft over screaming hordes of teenyboppers as heroin flows backstage and Christina Aguilera just can't seem to get on the guest list. When that happens, I will perch, disgruntled, in the shadows at large clubs -- dribbling rum down the front of my shirt and cursing under my breath at young girls with pierced buttocks flashing views of their genetically engineered cleavage at the band

""But until then, the ghostly bubble-drone of Tone Rodent's saturated dirges will thrill me mightily every time I see them opening for overrated national acts who merely feign interest in the sort of holographic expansionism these guys have been honing for the past several years."" -Jason Wallace Triefenbach, Riverfront Times

We commend TONE RODENT, the band blends elements of British and American psyche, shoegaze and even bluesy rock, with no fear of trace inducing repetition. Long live the flange pedal. -StlToday.com

Average Customer Review: