thank you to all who attended the record release party!! Whew! damn! yes! check out our critic's choice for the show in the Chicago Reader. Yay!!!!
PLEASE JOIN OUR MAILING LIST Our EP is out. Our release show was sweaty fun. You can buy it at all Reckless Records in Chicago and also Permanent records. They have www's but shipping is $$. And yes, David Sitek produced the sound. WOW. If you'd like to be notified of shows in your town, join our list by sending us a message here or emailing
[email protected]. Please let us know what city you are from. If you ever signed up before, and you haven't gotten any emails, a little squirrel came by and ran off with it. Please sign up again. we try to be professionals, but really we eat our own poo.
..
this means something i try to suppress any unjust aversions to catchy-ness as enough unusualization happens by intuition in alignment with a premonition. so what do we sound like? people ask, I don't know. come to a show.
alert Please keep the images you comment with small, thanks! or don't be sad if they go gone. loading the big obnoxious ones can plug the player up on slower connections and we want people to hear our music.. :) videos ok. and we love to see your pics from our shows.
olso make the effert to spel my name rite if your premoting an event were part off. Its a peve Ive had sints childhod. ALEKS, NOT ALEX. thanx. - Aleks Tomasczhewvshschszski
reviews, press, ink, ink blots, spots, stains 2008/June : Chicago Reader : CRITIC'S CHOICE The drums sound like a horde of Krautrockers on horseback, the organ like an incoming storm—Sitek ran it through four amps at once—and Tomaszewska sounds like the raving art-school Valkyrie who’s running the show.
2008/ June : flavorpill.com Aleksandra Tomaszewska lays twisty Farfisa runs over drummer Deric Criss' Ege Bamyasi-inspired mix of taut timekeeping and manic fills. The way Aleks' spooky warble mingles with her circus-like keyboard lines can give you the creeps (in the best possible way), but the band's mesmerizing brand of minimalism is completely its own.
2008/March : Spin.com
2008/February : Centerstage : "the duo is one of the most original acts to come out of the local music scene in the past few years."
2008/February : UR Chicago Online Review of our show with Liars and No Age : "Chicago’s own Aleks and the Drummer took a break from working on their forthcoming EP to warm up an icy crowd. Deric Criss’ tight, driving rhythms combined with Aleks’ circus-organ riffs and dark, melodic voice made for a pleasant, albeit unexpected, surprise. Charging through a set that included the brooding tunes, “I Want to Melt His Eyes†and “SZCZ,†Aleks and the Drummer set themselves apart from the current herd of guy/girl combos getting press as of late." -
Rob McGee 2007/ : Oh my rockness "I've never heard a band quite like Aleks and the Drummer. Maybe that's why I keep listening."
2007/January : Chicago Reader : sharp darts "It sounds bizarre when all you can do is read about it, but when you use your ears, it's enchantingly gorgeous."
2007/November : Chicago Sun-Times
2007/November : UR Chicago interview (PDF) "Even the wordiest individual with an expansive knowledge of music would be hard pressed to define the sounds that emit from Deric Criss’ drum set and Aleks Tomaszewska’s slight figure and Farfisa organ. It reminds you of the scary music that plays once you reach the boss level of an old-school Super Nintendo game or the trills of a Slavic woman inexplicably singing a Japanese anime theme song. "
2007/September : Radio Free Chicago live review of show opening for Stereo Total
2007/August : Avant/Chicago Outdanced! show review "the erie-hypnotic sounds are a treat to the mind. Their 45 minute set was entrancing."
2007/July : Chicago Tribune interview
2007/July : peoplewithanimalheads.blogspot.com : "Chicago's Aleks and The Drummer are definitely not a band you have heard before... wholeheartedly unique and inspiring. Singer/keyboardist Aleks Andra Tomaszewska perform music so intricate and interesting that you can be left a bit speechless."
2007/May : gapersblock.com : opening for Celebration : "...Their sound is part erie nightmare, part polka and part hypnotic dance music. Quite a mix, huh? It needs to be heard to be understood."
2007/March : Mule Magazine : As they started to play, the group quickly became one of my favorite Chicago live acts... hypnotizing "Castlevania" (the videogame) style organ in a non-cheesy way. The sound in an old-school Nintendo game fashion is fun in its own right, but the melodies are downright beautiful, picked up from somewhere in Eastern Europe... Watch out for the band's takeover and please pressure them to record an album, so you won't have to be lucky enough to just stumble upon them -- Thomas Cordova
2007/June : Schubas Backstage Audio Inteview : Ever wondered if we like dogs or cats more, find out here!
2007/february : radiofreechicago.com : "Her voice is a force. Its powerful, urgent and wicked..." -- of deric's beats:" If I had not been there to observe it myself, I might have assumed they used some fantastic drum track."
2006/August : toomuchrock.com : Review of one of our first shows
2006/August : Chicago Reader--This local duo is one of an apparently dwindling number of bands gutsy and straightforward enough not to hide behind outfits or effect pedals or laptops. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but it's always worth watching. Aleksandra Tomaszewska sings deadpan and wobbly, often in her native Polish, and it's like she just has to or her chest will burst; she scribbles her fingers over a Farfisa and occasionally barks orders at the Drummer (aka Deric Criss), mostly to tell him to slow down. Their Gypsy emo is in the spirit of Victorian high drama--you want to have the smelling salts handy in case someone gets so hysterical she passes out.
-- Liz Armstrong, The Treatment -- Note: we have nothing against effects pedals, and Aleks is really into outfits!
Note 2: and Deric just got a new MacBook Pro. Hit him up to video chat. Or not.
Thank you good friend
Todd Leibov for recording our first myspace recordings.
Aleks and the Drummer is a band
