For more Lake Trout music go to:
www.laketrout.com
Lake Trout Bio
Press Highlights:
London's, Guardian
LAKE TROUT
Not Them, You
4 out of 5 Stars
This symphonic-indie outift was originally financed by a Baltimore Colts
footballer with, evidently, unsportsmanlike progressive taste. He's now
out of the picture, and with him went the post-rock learnings that frequently
saw the quintese [which includes a flautist] improvising entire gigs.
Lake Trout's second album - also the second on a label created by Chris Blackwell,
founder of Island Records - explores the accessible end of the dreamy/dissonant spectrum. A few segments dispense with both structure and sense (for move of that, see the bonus improv disk), but the Trout are mainly writing for an audience who enjoy weirdness as long as there's a tune in there.
The sit-up-and-listen "If I Can" showcases their ability to fuse unlikely
elements - folky feyness and orchestral grandiosity, in this case - and
come out with something unexpectedly grabby; "Street Fighting Man" turns the
Stones' chestnut into a chiming nursery rhyme. Eminently worth a listen.
*Download "If I Can" & "Riddle"
By Carline Sullivan
Entertainment Weekly review of Not Them You:
Entertainment Weekly
September 23, 2005
Why do they call their music post-rock? Theres little thats as comfortingly retro as these lush dreamscapes. The quintet has abandoned earlier flirtations with hip-hop and electronica for angular harmonies, oblique lyrics, and guitar-keyboard-flute arrangements that evoke ancient groups like Love or Traffic. (Theres even an oddly lovely cover of the Stones Street Fighting Man.) This disc leaves the present behind. B Gary Susman
Big Cheese review of Not Them You:
Lake Trout sound like too many different bands to count, produced by Tony Doogan (Belle & Sebastian) and David Fridmann (The Flaming Lips, Sleater Kinney), theyre able to fully get the sound they need for their visionary pop. Opener Shiny Wrapper has an explosive chorus and a sense of yearning, drums pound like Jesus And Mary Chain, chords twist in and out of harmony. Lake Trout make grand music thats gritty yet always beautiful. Pill uses hazy guitar riffs and soft vocals, the chorus an explosion. Their cover of the Stones Street Fighting Man transforms the arrangement into a harmony packed summertime song. This album is near flawless.
Jonathan Falcone
Usounds.com review of Not Them You:
Lake Trout bring us back to that brief but glorious period in the early 90s, when catchy modern music was interesting and actually rocked, and when lead singers didnt have to sound like your 13-year old little sister singing the contents of her diary. Their sound is clear but experimental without seeming convoluted, annoying or forced. If the same ears who brought Coldplay onto the Top Ten catch wind of Lake Trout, they are poised to reach the same majestic heights, having just as much talent for elegant songcraft, yet with more originality, adventurous musicality, experimental curiosity and just plain better lyrics.
Urb review of Not Them You:
(4/5 Stars)
The latest full length from the Baltimore rock experimentalists is highlighted by the considerable production talents of Dave Fridmann(also known as the "Fifth Flaming Lip"). His dense grandiose sheen works perfectly with Lake Trout's borderline prod-rock grandeur, creating a dazzling and epic album. Baltimore's best kept secret is ready for the world.
Junkmedia.org review of Not Them You:
Lake Trout is unlike any other band that labors under the "alt' or "indie" headings. At the surface they are a band that plays rock, plays it loud and plays it well. You can hear the underpinnings of everything from U2 and even Coldplay to 70s stoner rock in their well-constructed guitar parts, odd time changes, huge grandiose beats and soaring choruses. They have a firm grasp on the slippery trick of stretching a rock song into an anthemic meditation. But their strength is the diversity of their sound and their willingness to wander into territory most genre-bound bands wouldn't dare to tread. Through the course of Not Them, Us the band employs a flute, organic hip-hop beats, makes the title track a mid tempo instrumental and gives the listener an utterly convincing cover of the Rolling Stones' "Street Fighting Man." It's a stylistic hodgepodge saved from transgression into muddled confusion by the band's cocksure playing.When the band is on the mark, the music is bouncing-on-the-balls-of-your-feet good. Album opener "Shiny Wrapper" treads on a muddied bass line waiting patiently for the chorus to rise from its swampy bed, and rise it does on majestic stabs of guitar and cascading cymbals. "Riddle" makes a strong argument for Lake Trout to score Hollywood's next adaptation of a Japanese horror film. Not Them, You is one of those rare records that rewards on both repeated listens and initial forays. It's subtly complex in a way most bands don't dare to venture these days.
Peter Funk
September 13, 2005
Silent Uproar.com review of Not Them You:
With the moniker Lake Trout, a lead singer named Woody and a band member who plays the flute; I expected this Baltimore quintets music to approximate the performance of any number of earthy jam bands with silly names (String Cheese Incident, Leftover Salmon, etc.). I was pleasantly surprised to find Not Them, You to be one of the more well-produced and sonically mature rock albums I have heard in some time.Frontman Woody Raneres commanding vocal presence guides his band on a journey through areas of psychedelic Brit-pop, sparse folk rock and electronica reminiscent of Radiohead circa The Bends. At a time when many records sound like they were mixed and produced on an assembly line, Lake Trout does a wonderful job of letting their music swell and breathe. Flawlessly layered guitars crescendo and decrescendo to fit the emotional landscape, accented by quietly probing bass lines and just the right amount of synthesizer. One place in particular where the dynamic contrast works to full effect is on If I Can, where the tight vocal harmonies give off a sublime, Queen-like vibe.Each band member seems to know their role and work in tandem to create a consistent vision for the albums direction. As a result, standout rock cuts like Riddle and Now We Know blend seamlessly with the four ethereal instrumentals contained on the record. This type of unified variety speaks highly of the bands musicianship. Lake Trout may still be a band with a silly name, but there is nothing funny about the excellence of this record or about how poised and ready this band is to make a definite mark on the music scene.
Barfly Preview
If you think back to those shows you've been to that really affected you,
the ones that really hit something deep down, it's always the ones with a
peculiar, particular atmosphere about them, the music and the ambience and
everything. Not those joyous gigs where you can't stop dancing, shaking your
ass and hollering out every single word to every single song; rather, the
shows that you've felt a special stillness and absorption at, where the
music is completely consuming and nothing else matters. Of course, you may
not have experienced that kind of gig, and if you haven't you really, really
should.LAKE TROUT are a band seemingly brought about by some beneficent God just
for that purpose. They are an important band; they're a brilliant band.The Village Voice claimed that the Baltimore collective are stunningly
ferocious space sculptors capable of realigning your polarities, which the briefest of listens to forthcoming album "Not Them, You" easily proves. Lake Trout are indeed
sculptors, their music creates vast, intricately textured landscapes
through a smash-and-grab raid on as many genres as possible. The earthed
beats of DJ Shadow might mix with an ethereal pipe as huge, spiralling
guitars battle wistful keyboards, before it all changes and changes again.Lake Trout's sonic landscapes are at once real and natural, with mountains,
flora, fauna and vast, deep lakes (natch) , but rather than holding a mirror
to nature they sculpt deliberately, these rich landscapes sit wonderfully in
your palm, glowing slightly with their own light and seeming vast. Listen to
forthcoming single "Street-Fighting Man", a reclamation of the Stones'
classic where the naked aggression of an important, angry rallying cry is
seen from a half century later, and whispers gently with recognition of a
beautiful sentiment too distant to be properly understood.Which, I grant, is all high-blown praise. But Lake Trout are important, and
whether you want to experience something genuinely huge, fresh and unique
live for the first time or merely once more fancy treating your sonic
palette to epic, droney space rock like you remember Spiritualized making
when they were good. I guess you know now what show to go to.Age: +18
From Tripwire.com
Lake Trout can pull out some serious riffs and tricks. Having,
Im sorry to say, never even heard of Lake Trout until a few weeks ago, I had
no idea what to expect from their live show. When someone passed me a new album of theirs last week, I threw it on and was happily surprised by their unique sound. I honestly cannot think of a great comparison. Others have compared Lake Trout to a plethora of psychedelic bands that I used to listen to in middle school when I thought I was a hippie. I am highly reticent to do so because, although they do maintain reminiscent tones of classic bands such as Pink Floyd, they also sound completely fresh and equally in step with all of the new bands I have been rocking out to lately. All I can say is that they are a creative mix of spooky keyboard riffs, droning and, at times, psychedelic guitar, all topped by amazingly dark, pop vocals akin to The Wedding Present. Watching them was like chewing on an extremely tasty piece of gum whose flavor regenerates itself in spurts and waves at random intervals. While the set and songs themselves were consistently great, it was these bursts of flavor that took over the entire ballroom with their overwhelmingly full sound, especially on the song Now We Know. For this reason, in particular, the band proves themselves to be a band that must be heard both live and on album. Lake Trout proceeded to end the set by initiating a complete and total rock out session. Some serious head banging ensued from the audience. It was a brilliant way to end the set. After all, who doesnt love a good head banging session, especially from a group who so innocently call themselves Lake Trout? I highly recommend getting out to see this band.
From IndieWorkshop.com
Lake Trout
www.laketrout.com/
Palm Pictures
Lake Trout is well, Lake Trout. You might be able to name influences of the band, but to categorize them is a fruitless task. They are part everything. Rock, ambient, electronic, even a little acoustic is tossed in their, for even more of a classification dodging twist. Funny thing is, even with all the bases that this Baltimore five piece cover, it never comes off as trite or forced.Another One Lost, is further documentation of this. The 13 track, 50 minute album travels back and forth over a number of musical styles, even making the trip within the same song at times. But the fact that the band somehow still got the album to play as a cohesive piece of work is staggering. You can jump back and forth from bands/artists like Radiohead, Pink Floyd, Amon Tobin, Girls Against Boys and Placebo, but still never really grasping if that truly is the band you are thinking about. They are kings of this. You almost hate to name names for fear of making yourself look like an ass.And besides the influence name game you could continually play, you have what seems like a concept album to decipher. The liner notes are full of movie production artwork, with an apparent story line weaved throughout. Some of the artwork has lyrics from songs placed underneath or in the pieces themselves. Its all very well done. Nothing is said of any concept. They dont just come right out and shove it in your face, but it seems that it is there if you choose to seek it out. Which, in my opinion, is the way to go about things like this. Suck the listener in, tease them with a story, but make them work for it if the want to know the whole thing.The album is meticulously produced. It seems that every distorted drum track, that every programmed noise, that every layered vocal track, is only there because of hours of deliberation. A labor of love if you will. Its not a background album. Its not something easy that you can put on to relax or zone out to. It commands your attention. It needs to get under your skin, thats its driving purpose. And I imagine that with most listeners, its going to achieve its mission objectives.Lake Trout is not to be taken lightly. Their music does lend for much of a soft side. Its cold, but full of emotion. Its dark, but still manages to make you smile. Whether or not its a malicious smile is all up to your personality I suppose.
Excerpt from Langerado Festival Review:
"In addition,
while by no means a traditional Jambands.com-style guest appearance,
costume-clad members of Lake Trout, Rose Hill Drive and the Drive-By
Truckers were also spotted dancing onstage with the Flaming Lips throughout
its Saturday afternoon performance. The Flaming Lips¹ Wayne Coyne returned
the favor, citing Lake Trout as the band he was most excited to checkout
during Langerado (both bands have worked with producer Dave Fridmann)."
For more Lake Trout music go to:
www.laketrout.com
