Member Since: 8/1/2004
Band Members: HELLEN STORER (bass/guitars/vox/drums), DAVID HILLIS (guitars/production/keys/sounds), DAVE KRUSEN (drums)
Influences: Kate Bush, Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Love, Laurie Anderson, Roxy Music, P.I.L, Captain Beefheart, Neu!, All Nuggets/Pebbles Collections, Joni Mitchell, Durutti Column, Joy Division, David Sylvian, Chameleons, Spacemen 3, Oscar Wilde, Bauhaus, Flatbush/Brooklyn, A Certain Ratio, Meredith Monk, Klaus Nomi, Talk Talk, La Monte Young, Suicide, Big Star, Electric Prunes,Terry Riley, Nick Cave, The Who, Gram Parsons, Chrissie Hynde, Sun Ra, Thirteenth Floor Elevators, New Order, Echo & the Bunnymen, Grace Slick, Martin Hannett, Stone Roses, Old school UK Jamaican ska and reggae, The Fall, Andy Warhol, Antonin Artaud, Ravi Shankar, Lisa Gerrard, Radiohead, Leonardo da Vinci, Roky Erikson, The Verve, TV on the Radio, Frank Zappa, Jesus and Mary Chain, Brian Eno, The Fall, King of the Slums, Slowdive, Peter Murphy, My Bloody Valentine, Siouxsie & Banshees, Kitchens of Distinction, Madchester, Cocteau Twins, Spiritualized, Can, Sonic Boom, Sigur Ros.
Sounds Like: AIDABET.COM:
By and large the product of Dave Hillis and Helen Storer, Thee Heavenly Music Association is a collection of musical ideas run through a few processors and then edited into a semi-coherent shape.
Actually, some of these songs are really songs. Really good songs. And even the more conceptual pieces here are quite striking. Imagine Black Box Recorder on a bad trip--but with guitars by Anton Fier. I'm not exactly sure how Hillis and Storer put together live shows, but apparently they do. I'd pay to hear that.
Maybe all the experimentation that went into the recording is simply distilled into a straight retelling. I doubt it, though. Anyone willing to put together an album this adventurous wouldn't--make that couldn't--do something so insipid.
And in case the album doesn't warp your musical sensibilities enough, there's a cover of Kate Bush's one and only U.S. "hit." Oh, don't worry. This is no ape job. It's a surprising reimagining of the piece, surprising mostly in its delicacy. Thee Heavenly Music Association knows how to make a mark.
ABOUT.COM:
Thee Heavenly Music Association - Shaping The Invisible
From Chad Kempfert, Your Guide to Alternative Music.
Guitar noise is precariously perched atop of an undeniably sleek and sexy song style.
This debut album from Thee Heavenly Music Association is an amazing effort.
Singer and guitarist Hellen Storer's vocals are bold, but somewhat detached. Her voice lies somewhere in between Curve crooner Toni Halliday and PJ Harvey. Guitars on the album are layered good'n'thick and covered in a layer of warm, grimy fuzz.
Shaping The Invisible opens with backwards guitars and severely dreamy vocals. The song ("Synesthesia") kicks into full drone when the guitars turn forwards. Storer's chorus of "You're unprotected / It's killing you" will play relentlessly in your head while you try to sleep. "The Absolute Nowhere" is another highlight on the album. It has a polished production that wouldn't sound out of place on a Curve album. Two of the songs ("The Lights Flickered... And Died" and "My Spacesuit Is Ripped, Please Open The Hatch") are quite different in that they are basically a mood pieces. They use delayed, looped drums beneath synth and guitar drones. "Suffer My Angel" has a heavy crunch that borders on Black Sabbath-isms. "Jiji Crycry" is the only song with male vocals. It's a great song that builds as it plays out.
Overall, this album has a good amount of energy, not usually found on your typical Shoegazer album.THE BIG TAKEOVER:
This one's a bit Brian Jonestown Massacre spooky to me. The sound starts out a little that way and quickly shifts into a My Bloody Valentine spaced out groove, if not quite as ethereal in the melodics--just more swamp ridden and drugged.
It's like some kind of rare, early Jesus & Mary Chain outtake where they were trying to play some Stones songs, but kept slipping in more distortion for the Bobby Gillespie factor. Other songs have a more upbeat driving rhythm and riff, while HELEN STORER'S vocals cry out like some heavy metal Elizabeth Frasier of Cocteau Twins (if you can imagine that--and it's supposed to suggest a good sound).
Sometimes there's a little psychedelic trip-hopping undercurrent to the songs, but it's all awash with such beautiful noise--it just seems to work.TOTAL ROCK.COM:
Artist: THEE HEAVENLY MUSIC ASSOCIATION Album: SHAPING THE INVISIBLE Label: STARLODGE Why: 4 AD, His Name Is Alive, Ride, My Bloody Valentine, Cocteau Twins, The Pixies and Emma Mason if any of that means anything to you then you already know what this cd sounds like, if not then where have you been! This is guitar music of a moody nature, all subtle distortion and racks of fx, kind of like Curve without the industrial overtones. Music so beautiful it makes Heidi Klume look like a bag lady. Nuff said.
Type of Label: None