/ P r e s s //

THE AESTHETICS - "OFF"
BY DANE CARLSON
EXPOSÉ (Issue 28, December 2003)

With bass and drums playing at extreme volume, the effect is to completely overload the board.  The sound comes off like it was recorded on an old Walkman with a condenser mic.  The blaring and wailing is then heard as if the listener was in a bathroom at the show.  The Aesthetics assault you with their own brand of rock and roll.  Pounding and throbbing, Feedback laden guitar solos, the sound is just plain grating.  And the vocals are painful; a yelling delivery.  I found this album completely unlistenable, however their brand of complete off axis RIO-styled punk may appeal to some.  Had the Residents been formed today, maybe this is what they would sound like. >Expose Magazine

THE AESTHETICS - OFF
BY DAVID KEENAN
THE WIRE  (Issue 215, January 2002)

While New Zealand regularly throws up some of the best heavy drone and freeform noise discs on the planet, it’s been a while since they produced any worthwhile rock ’n’ roll.  You have to go as far back as the early Flying Nun singles, speaker wrecking stuff like The Clean’s first few EPs, to mainline that kind of energy.  Then out of the blue comes this, Matt Middleton’s Aesthetics, a wild trio who specialise in lo-fi bursts of snotty rock, complete with bleeding electronics and three note guitar riffs that could’ve come straight out of the tombs of Cleveland.

Middleton’s CV is all over the place.  A former member of Shayne Carter’s Dimmer, he also plays under a variety of different group names.  Whether he’s roaring through a free jazz inspired tangle or building streaming towers of squeakily industrial electronics, they all share an obsessional punk-noise aesthetic.  As Crude, he recorded for Flying Nun and cut the deranged Refute A Myth Society for Ecstatic Yod’s Ass-Run series.  The Aesthetics are Middleton on guitar, vocals and synth, Pat Krauss on “big boom boom drums and attitude” and ‘Fyfe’ on “Bad ol’ bass, software, hardware and morale”.  They blast off with “Store Card 60”, which sounds like a benign take on the fuck-you pogo of Cleveland’s Electric Eels, with Middleton’s cheap fuzz riffing suggesting The Damned’s Captain Sensible on helium.  Though iced with Middleton’s endearingly wayward singing, later tracks are more steeped in electronics, recalling early Mute or Rough Trade ventures into bedroom circuitry.   With prime garage punk riffs sunk in tape hiss and distortion, Off is an exhilarating ride. >http://www.thewire.co.uk/

THE AESTHETICS - OFF
BY MATS GUSTAFSSON
THE BROKEN FACE  #13

Hot on the heels of their well received LP My Right to Riches on Ecstatic Peace, New Zealand's prime rock deconstructors (next after the Dead C), the Aesthetics are back to present another nice slab of distortion, howling feedback and all around weirdness, this time on the fledgling Missouri imprint Mental Telemetry.   Off offers what we've come to expect from these guys, demented ear-bending rock intensity along the lines of Chrome, performed within the farthest outskirts of the traditional song structure and with lo-fi aesthetics on their sleeves. >The Broken Face

THE AESTHETICS "OFF"
BY ANDREW MAGILOW
SPLENDID EZINE (2/22/02)

Certain bands take you back through music's past. When Rancid first hit the scene, people reminisced about hearing the early Clash. The Casualties suggest mid-period Exploited. The Strokes may even bring to mind a certain early Seattle-raised garage band called The Sonics. Is all music cyclical, with contemporary copycats repeatedly modifying existing musical patterns to update their sound for modern-day listening standards? Is there anything out there that's still truly original? It's a world of rhetorical questions, ain't it?

The Aesthetics call certain bands to mind as well, though unless you have a penchant for noisy New Zealand schlock, you'll forget their names as soon as you read them. But for those of you who are either "in the know" or just sub-par record collecting losers like me, there are definite strains of King Loser, Trash and even an inkling of The Dead C spilling from The Aesthetics' lips. This all boils down to a musical cauldron of damaged noise that mixes peppery garage-rock rhythms with anti-climatic, post-punk improvisation, creating an overcooked broth that will leave some listeners kvetching and others anxiously scrambling for more.

Having done time in such relative unknowns as Dimmer and his own solo project, Crude, local eccentric Matt Middleton formed The Aesthetics in 1995. While the band has progressed from cassette-only releases to full-length CDs, The Aesthetics still prefer their recordings to be harsh, scummy garage-flavored rockers. Using plenty of overdriven instruments, Middleton, Kraus and Fyfe tear through Off with energetic screaming, rugged rhythms and a sloppy swagger that suits anyone looking for a glaring upheaval of standard musical thoroughfare. "Sufi" blends pseudo-free jazz saxophone squawking with a rash of yelping guitar notes and a slew of noisy sludge, belittling any hopes of establishing a recognizable beat. Muffled low-end bass and fiendish words zip past your ears on the startling seven-minute epic "The Idiot Team", as looped samples and phasers are injected into the mix, creating a particularly irritating masterpiece. Taking the distorted mayhem motif to the extreme, The Aesthetics include two live numbers that are equivalent to a hyperactive Daniel Johnston recklessly exorcising himself of inner demons with the help of the finest extra-lo-fi equipment.

The Aesthetics aren’t for everyone. Quite frankly, they’re not for most people; the majority of musical curiosity seekers will desperately seek some semblance of aural familiarity -- and will leave empty-handed. And while there are certain influences sporadically spread across Off, it’s quite difficult to associate this CD with anything cyclical - there’s simply too much instability and feedback-laden noise to remind one of anything except the jackhammering construction crew outside your window. If you’re in need of a good musical enema, The Aesthetics will hastily purge your record collection of any unnecessary rock ‘n roll parasites that may mercilessly prowl your shelves. >Splendid Ezine

AESTHETICS, THE "Off" CD
BY JIMMY ALVARADO
RAZORCAKE MAGAZINE (01/02/2002)

Imagine a lo-fi, less Arab-influenced Savage Republic or Flipper with a smidge more musical ability.
>Razorcake

The Aesthetics, Off
BY DAVE HEATON
ERASING CLOUDS #7 (October 2001)

Call it sub-sub-sub rock, if you will; The Aesthetics' Off sounds like it was recorded in another land somewhere deep under ground. The songs are weird bluesy guitar rock but everything is distorted beyond belief, making it seem absolutely arcane, something miles away from what your average person on the street would think of as rock. A trio from New Zealand, led by prolific eccentric Matt Middleton, The Aesthetics make music that is downright strange: lo-fi rock fueled by a desire to mess with every sound at every step. Songs like "Sufi" sound in part like a sort of punk-rock version of out-there jazz, with the same freeness about it. Other tracks, especially "The Idiot Team," wear an extra layer of noise over them from start to finish. The slower, more spacey "Imbroglio" sounds like a rock song that has been partially destroyed, like big parts of it are missing. The vocals everywhere are nearly impossible to understand on first listen, and the music is also often hard to get your bearings with at first. Too extreme for your average person (your Best Buy shopper), Off is baffling but also exciting, a living work of art which shifts around in ways you won't expect. Listeners in search of a challenge shouldn't turn away, Off is a unique musical adventure. >http://www.erasingclouds.com/