Music:
Member Since: 1/14/2006
Band Members: Dicky Dahl, Joe Fiorentino, La Calista, Artanker, Chris Seeds, Dan Brown, Yvan Pilette, Matt Vanella
Influences: Iggy and the Stooges. Can. Captain Beefheart. T. Rex. Black Oak Arkansas. The Guess Who
Sounds Like: Stratotanker has got starpower it doesnt mind burnin, whether anybodys paying attention or not. Spin.
Stratotanker abruptly changes direction like a crazed fugitive, but the ride is never sort on excitement. CMJ.
This is the hot action, January 5, 2000
Reviewer: Alex Chilton (New Orleans)
I'd heard about this band before, when they came through New Orleans. Made it to the bar too late, they'd already finished. But the crowd was hot and bothered. Dizzy with excited hyperventillation, glassy eyed and smiling. They were humming new tunes to themselves, smiling shyly at me, and giggling. I picked up this record at a friend's request and it blew my mind. Every song sounds like it was recorded at a different place, almost like different people played it. But there is this thread of intelligence that goes through the whole thing, connects it all, you know its 1 mind (shared by 4 guys and a woman). The music is jacked up like an old AMC Javelin, with this crazy bug eyed guy at the wheel. But he's not screamin (at least not always), more often he's crooning to somebody in the deep back seat, who's riding so low and stoned that you can't even see them. There is so much variety on this record, high powered punk, groovin sex music, avant garage jazz that the band's known for, and highly charged pop thats been left out in the sun too long (maybe that's just my copy) and so is slightly warped. This record is just about 40 minutes, (lmtd so it could also come out on vinyl), and leaves me wanting the other records they've made. Its dizzying music for a hot summers day riding in the Javelin, or walking the frigid ice covered tundra. I'm sure that's how these songs were written.Baby, Test the Sky is astounding not only for the fact that its Stratotankers debut LP, but also for the fact that theres still a band around willing to completely abandon genre in favor of making a record that encompasses jazz (as well as jazziness), avant-rock, punk, blues, and most importantly, flutes! Magnet.
Dont bother trying to pin down the acid-eaters in Stratotanker. Just adjust your seatbelt, grab a handful of honey-roasted peanuts and prepare to have your brain fried and your pupils dilated. Tip of the Week, New City.
This record just plain rocks like no tomorrow. Check it. Gavin Report.
Stratotanker doesnt neglect shit-kicking. Art projects rarely turn out this listenable. Time Out New York.
Imagine if a bunch of lounge lizards stumbled upon a sacred Native-American ritual that involved enough peyote to fuel your next family reunion. The digestion of the cacti button and the ceremony had enough influence on the martini buffs to acquire a bunch of instruments, ransack some sort of A.M. radio station, set up and play live on the air in order to get this message that dripped from the sky in these cube-shapes with every answer to every question in Smoke Language. This is what Stratotanker is all about: Free form, lo-fi and spiritual. Etch.
the drummer muttering, yeah, yeah uh-huh, thats right, baby (like that sexy, velvet-suit wearing voice in your head that cheers when youre getting laid), cause hes got the goods. Hes smacking the skins with a beat he knows the kids ill love, Daddy-O. (The Beastie Boys visit Manchester). Plazm.
"See lead singer Dicky Dahl -- part performance artist, part trickster -- shimmy and shake; his crumpled suit having an argument in body language; his voice like the difference between you and me, like melted cheese on a sandpaper sandwich. He is the antithesis, the doppleganger of every 1950s pretty-boy icon . . . Is this what they call the birth of cool? Stratotanker: lounge meets art school."
- David Lanfair, Plazm
If Jon Spencer ditched his white-boy minstrel shtick, joined the B-52s and started imitating Captain Beafheart covering the Fleshtones, he might give New Yorks Stratotanker a run for the money. As it is, theyve got no equals. Winnipeg Sun.
Record Label: Homestead, AUM Fidelity, Anisette, Runt.
Type of Label: Indie
