ZERO MAGAZINE CD Review
San Francisco's Apside releases a 4-track EP with a collection of dreamy landscapes. It wasn't easy. The band experienced issues making this EP. The first 3 tracks recorded at respected Cyclops Studios left the band feeling empty. After 5 months of production they took the tracks to former Consolidated member Mark Pistel's Room 5 Studios. The drum and beat master listened and filled the fragments. "Insane" the break-out song with the Pistel touch is layered with the ear of a fanatic.
Apside features dark powerful European driven-guitars. In the way Europeans blast down the Autobahn, Giordano and Straccia guitar playing blast through the tracks while shifting a telecaster above the grind of the melodies. It is hard to classify this band, as shoegazer and power-pop don't quite do them justice. The smooth delivery of such heavenly riffs with solid lyrical structure, vocals and rhythm make Apside's arrangements palatial. The ethereal nature of these arrangements are filled with dense wistful guitars painting a landscape full of sweeping gestures. Sounding much larger than a 4-piece the density washes behind Straccia's vocal's almost falsetto in quality, in such a way to make this little EP huge in its surreal qualities.With local bands getting snapped up left and right by major labels, this band is one to watch. Apside is Paolo Giordano (guitar, vocals), Bruno Romani (bass), Pietro Straccia (guitar, vocals), and Tina Fagnani (drums). ~Sessa D'Amelio
April 2006
Bay Area foursome Apside have a compelling EP that suggests lots of promise. “A Place Like Home,” with its unexpected chord changes and melodic hook, is exciting to hear. Though the band is decidely Brit-influenced, there is also a hyper, Strokes-ish energy on “I Have Nothing.” Apside is a cutting-edge alternative-rock band whose creative choices (e.g., buried lead vocals) work well for this genre. The band deserves some airplay onstations like L.A.’s Indie 103.1.
IM MAGAZINE Show review
SF's Apside at Slim's 4/29/05
Date: Monday, May 23 @ 17:26:46 BST
Topic: IM News
by Daniela Cleveland
Their self-description reads as "jealousy, urgency, love, hope, loneliness, strength". Apside's music includes all of these elements, along with possessing talent for melodic lines, grunge-inspired heaviness, and utter precision.
As part of the Sean Healy Presents: Midnight In A Perfect World showcase on April 29th at Slim's, they packed a distinctive punch for a lively audience. 'Too Soon', performed at a faster tempo than on their self-titled EP, provided a showcase for Tina Fagnani's attack-style drumming, further driving the point of heartbreak inherent in the song's lyrics. Dramatic and atmospheric, 'Insane'
included a mixture of staccato leads flourishing with melodic ones and thudding bass at the chorus, while guitarist Paolo Giordano and bassist Bruno Romani both dropped to their knees as though rock were a religion and music the Creator. 'Collide', a song which embodies optimism and devotion (and has received alterna-radio airplay in São Paulo, Brazil recently), was delivered beautifully by Pietro Straccia, bearing a slightly casual physical stance while delivering impassioned vocals.
LINKS TO MORE REVIEWS
POA ROCK
review of Garagem Hermetica show (porto alegre Brazil)
APLAUSO
Applause brazilian magazine review