V.M.I.

Intelligence

Un-Psychedelic In Peavey City

V.M.I.

“Still panting from their installment in Castle Face’s Live In San Francisco series (where they ran a greatest hits clinic for basement sweat-rats) and from mega-mind Lars Finberg’s outside solo oddballer, Moonlight Over Bakersfield, The Intelligence return in Neu-veau mode with Un-Psychedelic In Peavey City, their tenth studio album-amalgam.  Load up on electrolytes, all ye who enter here…“The customary tin / aluminum milestone won’t fit this true band of steel:  the current Intelligence iteration is the most forceful and dynamic of any line-up in the project’s history.  Although each performer has been smeared across myriad recordings and tours for years, the now-time assemblage of Drew Church (bass), Dave Hernandez (guitar) and Kaanan Tupper (drums) currently positions The Intelligence as a world-class unit, with members playing in partnership with conductor Finberg rather than at his sometimes-service.  Lars is giving the back-rubs now, not getting ‘em—a delightful and cruel twist. “There’s no aspect of Un-Psychedelic In Peavey City that tilts toward phoned-in safe plays, no easy feat for a 10-albums-deep unit.  For this collection, the band cast off the comforts of their traditional cosmopolitan haunts (Sacramento, Costa Mesa, etc.) in favor Grass Valley’s Louder Studios, a wilderness recording burg (OK OK, with a pool, yes) helmed by Tim Green, a twiddler maestro who has assisted Bikini Kill, Melvins, Comets On Fire, Wand and countless others in sterling fashion.  The resultant recordings are the most expansive Intelligence material imaginable—perhaps Un-Psychedelic, but certainly free, playfully abstract and awesomely stretched out.”    —Mitch Cardwell