Skye Klad review Minneapolis Star Tribune October 20th 2002

Star Tribune October 20th 2002 by Chris Riemenschneider

The Twin Cities are laden with experimental rock bands nowadays, but far too many forget the rock half of the equation. On its second full-length CD, local freak-out specialists Skye Klad incorporate as much from Black Sabbath and the Stooges as they do from arty innovators such as Can or Sonic Youth. The quartet blends droning, fuzzed-out guitars with throbbing, pulsating rhythms in songs like "Sunwheel" and "Little Nemo," which sound like soundtrack music to a midnight screening of "Apocalypse Now." Frontman Jason Kesselring's deep, Nick Cave-like vocals are sinister enough to make a cover of Irving Berlin's "Blue Skies" seem dark and foreboding. Even when the band takes its psychedelia so far as to title a song "Absynthe Opaline," the members sound like they're having fun, with tongues partially planted in cheek. Between bong hits, that is.

Skye Klad A List Minneapolis Star Tribune 01/05/2001

This criminally ignored local space-rock collective inhabits an alternative universe of UFOs, cults and paranormal phenomena, which only begins to explain its approach to music. Skye Klad might be the most futuristic rock band in town, yet there's a timeless, early-psychedelic element borrowed from the darker impulses of Pink Floyd, the Velvet Underground, Black Sabbath and the like. Guitar-hero-in-waiting Jason Kesselring is the band's resident sick genius, capable of veering from anxious atmospherics to jagged art-rock freakouts within a single frame. And singer Adam Backstom has grown more engaging since he exchanged his gothic moan for a slight snarl. The pieces come together beautifully on the group's new self-titled recording, available for free download at http://www.skyeklad.com; the album's delayed release on CD is part of the impetus for tonight's show. The Morning Stars and Fadladder open. (8 p.m. Fri., 7th Street Entry, 29 N. 7th St., Mpls. $6. 612-338-8388.) (S.P.G.)