The Ancient Sons

The songs you hear are all songs off of THE ANCIENT SONS upcoming debut album "DARK GOSPEL". The first track "The Ghostwriter" is a rough demo/mix from Dark Gospel. The other songs are all 1-track practice demos recorded on an iMac. Chris & Brad Teichman were in a band called Army Of Trees and Matt K. Shrugg is from The Shruggs/Th Losin' Streaks & The Pizzas. Our newest members are: David K. Aslanian, Justin Pine & Matt Maxwell all from the amazing local band Rock The Light. Less is more when it comes to recording. We like to keep it raw and simple with a dash of reverb. Creepy, haunting lo-fi music with lyrics of hope and a wall of harmonies. Lay your emotions out and let them fall where they may. Look for our first album to be recorded in the summer & fall of 07! Here are the sounds of THE ANCIENT SONS. Peace & Love!THE ANCIENT SONS BAND: Chris Teichman: Acoustic Guitar & Vocals / Matt K. Shrugg: Drums, Bass & Vocals / Brad Teichman: Bass, Drums & Vocals / David K. Aslanian: Guitar / Matt Maxwell: E-Bow & Keyboards / Justin Pine: Tambourine, Shakers & Bongos ////*******Live show review from The Unknown Critic********What can be said about The Ancient Sons? Well they are not so ancient for sure. In fact their show at The G Street Pub August 21st, in Davis CA was new and refreshing. New because you don't really see bands like this... anymore. They have a sound that is difficult to explain but after all, that's what I am here for so here goes. A little bit meloncoly, a lot harmonic, a little sixties, a little 80's, a lot phycodelic, a little depressing, and a lot of fun. Once compared to the early Kinks by SN&R, I would say more like... Ah shit I knew this would happen. They are really difficult to pinpoint a sound too. Let's break it down. Vocally, chris and Brad Teichman have soft melodic vocals that remind me of a sunday school choir in the Morrison Hotel. Guitar is accoustic ( no electric this night) with simple, catchy cord changes. Bass is profound whom ever is playing it (Matt K. Shrugg and Brad Teichman switch off). For the most part it is Brad. The drums are a fuckin trip. Some of Matt K. Shruggs drum beats are truely original. Very Tom Heavy, pass me the bowl cause this is some good shit kinda drums. So I figured it out. Early Beatles with some early stones ( Ruby Tuesday ), a hint of Queen and the Doors and maybe some Lou Reed? Whip it together and you got the Anceint sons. These guys are diffinetely worth seeing. Let's be honest you just don't get to see and hear music this original and this well written very often. This shit is not from a can. This is a pure bonefied recipe for somethin really good. Go support the Ancient sons. Tell them the Unknown Critic sent you. ************************************************************ ******************************** *******Something Better Beginning*******By Jackson Griffith*******Once, long ago, I caught my sainted mum ordering a bunch of albums from a record club advertised in TV Guide. After looking over her list—Robert Goulet, Jerry Vale, Frank Sinatra, Mantovani—I decided that the sheer lack of anything that rocked was a crime against humanity. I whined, she relented, and then she offered me three albums out of 12. When they arrived a month later, I played the Byrds' Fifth Dimension and the Yardbirds' Over Under Sideways Down quite a bit. But the album that lived on my turntable and cut my 11-year-old soul to the quick was the Kinks' Greatest Hits.Even now, I'm thoroughly enamored with the Kinks' music. There's something otherworldly and existential about Ray Davies' songs that transcends the 1960s beat-group genre, and the band's early, Shel Talmy-produced sides have those cold winds of the North Sea blown through them in a way that period music by the Beatles and the Stones doesn't.So I get excited whenever a new band comes along that can convey that same feeling, and do it with good songs. We've had a couple of those bands locally. Deathray, which recently called it quits after two brilliant albums that few people outside of Sacramento heard, was as close to an American Kinks as one might get. And a promising newcomer is the Ancient Sons, which played last Saturday at the Javalounge.Like the two bands that preceded them (the Polymers and Ghetto Moments), the Sons let their songs ride on tight harmonies, here delivered by Chris Teichman, who also plays guitar, and his brother Brad, who alternated on bass and drums, switching places for a few songs with Matt K. Shrugg. Those harmonies recalled the aforementioned Kinks and the early Who, along with something more unearthly, like old Pentecostal field recordings from the era of 78 rpm. Chris' lead vocals have a bell-like, choirboy quality, which adds to the eerie vibe.Instrumentally, the band has advanced quite a bit since last winter, when I first saw them. Shrugg—who also drums for, well, the Shruggs and (sadly, on hiatus) Th' Losin Streaks, and also fronts the amazing Pizzas—provides a solid heartbeat behind the brothers Teichman, who previously were in the band Army of Trees. This night they were joined by guitarist David K. Aslanian, from Rock the Light, who played the entire set seated on the drum riser and, for the final three songs, keyboardist Matt Maxwell. Their din was impressive, but the real focal point was the harmony vocals and a pretty top-notch group of songs, which should show up on a CD sometime in the next few months. If you don't mind very rough versions, there are four tunes posted at www.myspace.com/theancientsons. From: Sacramento News & Review