Hailing from New York, Talibam! has been making their presence felt since 2003 through numerous live gigs, self-released cdr’s and label releases. Talibam! has toured Europe six times since 2006 and released 15 records during this period. They have releases on Azul Discografica, Evolving Ear, Pendu Sounds, Wallace Records, Holiday Records, Thors Rubber Hammer, Ecstatic Peace, Gaffer Records, Blackest Rainbow, and others.
Talibam! Is one of the most potent and fascinating bands in contemporary music. The five plus years of interplay between Mottel and Shea has created one of the most unique and exciting live shows and some of the most powerfully recorded documents of any era. At a time when most culture sticks to conservative niche opportunities, Talibam! is interested in expansion and exploration; They manage to part the sea by not sticking to genre, aesthetic predisposition or the usual norms of what being a ‘band’ is. More inclined to put on a show that any and all will like, and not be stymied by ‘avant’ type casting, they have won over both unsuspecting and in the ‘know’ audiences worldwide. The energy of Kevin Shea’s full steam drumming is not to be missed, nor is the primal tone of Mottel’s synth run through a Marshall Half Stack.
Matt Mottel’s visage should be familiar to anyone who’s been going to shows in NYC in the past ten years. He’s been hanging around NYC clubs since he was like 16, and dropping electric mind bombs with his synthesizer in those clubs nearly as long with folks like Awesome Color, Akron/Family, Jeffrey Lewis, Chris Taylor (Grizzly Bear), Kenny Wollesen, Chris Corsano, Ras Moshe, Cooper-Moore, Sean Meehan, and his new band Shadow Maps.
Kevin Shea’s drumming and stage gymnastics have been gazed at with wide wonder through his membership in bands like Storm & Stress (Touch & Go), Coptic Light (No Quarter), People (I and Ear), Peter Evans Quartet (Firehouse 12), Kyp Malone (TV on the Radio), Tyondai Braxton (Battles)Sexy Thoughts (rcarchives.com), Mostly Other People Do The Killing (Hot Cup), etc.
Car Commercials are generally uncomfortable; probably shifty-eyed loners that barely leave the basement. Their brand of strictly personal suburban ooze was borne deep within the recesses of New Jersey, just east of I-95. More specifically, this music springs from inside that unspeakable zone deep within the mind where feelings get very messy.
David Sutton and Daniel DiMaggio, the duo known as Car Commercials, make mysterious fake rock clatter for heavy petting (yeah right). Following a brief stint as GT Performers, Daniel and David began to make duo recordings as Car Commercials a few years ago, releasing their creepy missives in small runs, mostly for Sutton’s Leaf Leaf label. The two have tapped into an aspect of nonsensical nihilism that makes Jad Fair’s early recordings so alluring, but have forgone his obsession with cartoon horror and monster movies in favor of Faces of Death I thru VI.
“Car Commericals seem to feed ‘n feast on a particular lost part of my youth, specifically the fuzzy grey area I encountered just after hearin Jad Fair’s ‘Zombies Of Mora-Tau’ for the 1st time. Listenin to the ‘Judy’s Dust’ lp it’s as though them zombies which seemed so menacin & filled w/ petulance didn’t wander too far from home but seemingly procreated & encouraged their spawn to go forth & if not conquer, well, at least be a nuisance to the status quo. Let’s face it, zombie college is expensive but then what college ain’t these days? Um, so…….yeah, Car Commercials come across on this 1st lp like charmed replicants w/exact DNA to match Jad’s mythical zombo’s of yore. True, this generation’s ‘disturbance’ might seem mellower, but somethin tells me if you scratch a little harder there’s a hornet’s nest of dread under there that’ll stand your hairs on end while your runnin for the hills. So go on, dig deeper. A case’ve the creeps can only do you some good.” — Siltblog