ankst 100th release

THE LATEST COLLECTION FROM THIS EXTRAORDINARY THREE PIECE FROM N.WALES.ANN MATTHEWS ( VOX.GUITAR) ALAN HOLMES ( GUITAR) AND MAEC HEWITT(DRUMS) SERVE UP A FITTING 100TH RELEASE FOR ANKST WITH THEIR THIRD COLLECTION OF UNCOMPRIMISING AND TOTALLY ORIGINAL GUITAR ROCK . TRYDYDD CASGLIAD GAN UN O GRWPIAU MWYA UNIGRYW ANKST , RHYWLE RHWNG SONIC YOUTH, FAUST A ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE.

REVIEW/ADOLYGIAD

THE EARLIER ECTOGRAM ALBUM 'ALL BEHIND THE WITCHTOWER' WAS A LITTLE LIKE SONIC YOUTH RE-RECORDING THE SOUNDTRACK TO THE WICKER MAN . HERE THIS TRIO TAKE THINGS FURTHER , WITH WHAT SURELY AMOUNTS TO AN ALT ROCK TAKE ON 'HARKEN TO THE WITHES RUNE' THE PAGAN ALBUM ONCE RECORDED BY BBC CHILDRENS TV PRESENTER TONI ARTHUR .'TO DREAM OF ACORNS' SUMMONS BOTH NEW ORDER IN TRANCED OUT LIVE MODE AND THE HIGH GOTHIC , OF SAY ,COLERIDGE . KINDLING HAS ANN MATTHEWS'S APPEALING WISPY VOCALS ROLLING OVER LOVELY GUITAR CURLICUES . THE HILLS ARE ALIVE !

ROY WILKINSON Q MAGAZINE APRIL 2002

Ectogram's third album doesn't quite have the trio returning to the garage per se after the rich blend of instruments familiar on earlier releases - the same spirit of psychedelic queasiness, Krautrock groove and off-kilter non-pop hooks dominates all. Alan Holmes, in particular, seems to whip up more noise on his guitar than most construction sites could manage, but he's able to touch on everything from swirling, liquid tones to scrabbling, howling rampages. Ann Matthews is the key to it all, though, her sweetly mysterious singing slipping through Maeyc Hewitt's shifting motorik rhythms and her own guitar noise. Whether it's the righteous surge of "Apparatus On My Mind", which captures something Stereolab seem too timid to fully try anymore, or the cascading flow of "Sycamore Rash" - not to mention the 10-minute chug of "Clove Soup" - Ectogram come up trumps throughout this instantly enjoyable listen.

Ned Raggett

Careless Talk Costs Lives April 2002

Once you have played with notably unhinged Krautrock heroes Faust and entitled a track Opal Soft Green Kumquat Of The Sun, then you know no fear. Ectogram have done both these things, and done them while looking like raddled hippies who live in sheds, and Ð defying all received logic Ð remain rather fantastic. That their third full-length is only a shade under 70 minutes, arrives in possibly the worst sleeve Honk has ever seen, and boasts surely-piss-taking titles once more (The Horse Behind The Flower; My Owl) shouldn't deter you too much. Tall Things Falling retains some of the loopy pastorality of 2000's All Behind The Witchtower, but turns up the fuzz to leave Ectogram resembling a Welsh Sonic Youth more than anything. To Dream Of Acorns owes more than a little to the Youth's Teenage Riot, but is has enough individual momentum to delight on its own terms. Even when Ectogram blast into deep space (the ten-minute Glove Soup), it always feels like songwriting - they never scrabble around in pools of lysergic indulgence, always reigning this noise in tight to their chests. It's one of the most individual, truly psychedelic records you'll hear for a long time. But that doesn't mean you can't dig it too.

Noel Gardner

Honk/NME/Amazon March 2002