With a new split EP – Life Is Twigs / Psychic Pinball – just around the corner, Chicago's Protovulcan released a new music video, "The Force Remains The Same."
Made up of Deric Criss (drums), Nicholas Ammerman (guitar), and Will MacLean (moog bass, Wurlitzer, vocoder), the band's resume is eclectic. Prior to Protovulcan Criss played with Aleks and the Drummer, while MacLean was part of David Baker's band, Variety Lights. MacLean owns and utilizes the delay pedal Grasshopper utilized on the early Mercury Rev records.
The trio's sound combines garage rock, nuances of funk, and '70s proto-metal into robotic acid rock. The EP drops January 25, with a release party scheduled for Thursday, January 10, at Emporium Chicago – Arcade Bar, in Chicago.
"The Force Remains The Same" opens with psychedelic vibrations, followed by a tight shuffling beat. When the deep hum of the moog bass enters, the tune takes on a mechanical martial ambience, like hordes of robots marching in formation on their way to destroy the world. The robots, of course, are commanded by Vincent Price from deep within his subterranean state-of-the-art headquarters.
MacLean's filtered vocals infuse the tune with an eerie sonic linear quality that's hypnotic, slightly evil, and unfeeling. The video reveals shadowy, cold, almost preset visuals, like something from Fritz Lang's Metropolis.
"The Force Remains The Same" exudes a feeling of pulsating post-industrial psych-rock converging with robots-gone-surfing energy. There's something captivating about the song that's hard to resist.
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Randy Radic is a Left Coast author and writer. Author of numerous true crime books written under the pen-name of John Lee Brook. Former music contributor at Huff Post.
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