Some quotes from a review of Chinatown in DOA:
“macro-musicality…an intriguing album…not an experimental album…songs both familiar and fugitive… large in scope… songs materialize like a forgotten word on the tip of your tongue… deep eclecticism… spaced out but very rooted… folks with eclectic tastes would do well to investigate.”
Northeast Performer - June, 2007
“According to The Gulf’s press materials, the band recorded its full-length debut in a run-down schoolhouse in Boston’s Chinatown district, changing the locks on a former storage room and converting it to a makeshift studio. Listening to the music on Chinatown, the offspring of this nine-month squatting experiment, one can almost picture the six talented band members making the most of the unlimited recording time in their clandestine studio, bouncing ideas off one another and exploring every musical whim.
Band co-founders Adam Garland and Adam Brock have lived in various parts of the country over the years, and they’ve obviously soaked up the local culture during their stays. Channeling tones from the West Texas desert to the Spanish countryside, with stops at Bourbon Street and even Coney Island along the way, The Gulf create soundscapes as vast as their name implies.
Take “Codeine,” for instance: a Morricone-style trumpet solo drifts into druggy verses, painted with a spacey slide guitar and a jazzy beat, followed by a sloppy barroom sing-along chorus. A few minutes later, a trippy break with the lyrics, “Like a kid in a playpen / No conversations / But I’ve made so many friends,” is dramatically underscored with a full-band barrage of carnival music.
Many songs follow a similar structure, subtly shifting direction mid-song, incorporating extensive instrumental breaks, and building up plenty of tension and release. As dizzy as the trip sounds, the impressive songwriting keeps things grounded and firmly on track, even though many tunes play out like five-minute song-suites with multiple movements.
Stealing the spotlight are the more traditional instruments - mainly Brian McGrath’s trumpet, Adam Brock’s piano, and Dave Barbaree’s slide guitar. Perhaps it’s the use of these instruments, or perhaps the complex, yet seamless song arrangements mentioned above - regardless, there’s an inherent sophistication in The Gulf’s songs that gives them a timeless quality rarely found in today’s hipster elite. This element makes the music a hell of a lot more listener-friendly than one would expect given its eclectic genes.
If your Calexico CDs and Meddle-era Floyd vinyl are getting stale, then try an interesting combination of the two with Chinatown. (Ultracold Records)”
-Brett Cromwell, Northeast Performer Magazine, June 2007
Dagger Zine (Portland, Oregon) reviewed The Gulf’s debut album “Chinatown” in their March 2007 issue:
“Beantown bunch who definitely are not playing the clubs over in Roxbury or Southie. The two leaders Adam Brock and Adam Garland are both quite talented and this spacey/trippy pop will appeal to fans of both Pink Floyd and The Flaming Lips.”
Thursday, February 8, 2007
“The Gulf is a Boston band that sent me their CD, “Chinatown” (Ultracold), at least a month ago and I finally got a grip and listened to it. I started with Track 9, “Note to Garland,” because I liked the name. Turns out it was a fine choice. I was lulled into acoustic lala land, against the backdrop of mellow percussion. Dreamy male vocals, courtesy of Adam Brock [sic] who is cousin of Modest Mouser Isaac Brock, are the centerpiece of the song, but then I started to hear horns and piano. “You’ll ease into conversation, without an eighth of hesitation … just because,” sings Brock. Then I went back to the opening song, “Waking,” which was equally enchanting, as was the next one, “The Princess from Rome.” “Don’t be waiting for me, in those pink leather boots. You know it’s been real but you haven’t got a clue,” spills Brock just before a punch of drums gets the point across. I’m having a total “I think this is my new favorite band” moment. The cover of “Chinatown” is a picture of a shop window with chickens hanging in it, and if you look closely a guitar can also be seen. It’s a goofy shot that doesn’t reflect what their music is all about, but all album covers have a certain level of arbitrary artiness to them, so I’ll cut them some slack. Plus, you GOTTA love that their record label is called Ultracold. The local meteorologists may want to adopt this and simply say in the forecast, “Well people, it’s gonna be ultracold. Good luck.”
note: dreamy male vocals in “Note to Garland” are by Adam Garland, not Adam Brock as written in the article. To avoid this confusion in the future, Adam Brock will have his name legally changed to an exclamation mark !
Insite Magazine did a spotlight on The Gulf in their 6/2006 issue. They wrote:
“This is a strong, fully-realized effort from a polished, ambitious group…Their eclecticism and ambitious approach to exploring the surreal outer-limits of the rock format recalls Pink Floyd, but where Floyd championed “space-rock,” The Gulf is very much of this earth.”
