Askew Reviews, LTD. CD review, October 2000

The Noise, LTD. CD review, December 1999

The Singles, 1990-1996

Askew Reviews

"While it's standard fare for bands to claim that their music defies or transcends categorization, UKLA's deft pick pocketing from psychedelia, pop, sci-fi, jazz, rockabilly, and surf legitimately does create something different. Don't get me wrong, the group has both feet firmly planted on decidedly punk ground but, as with any great band, UKLA takes chances and brings something new to the table. Layered, hypnotic soundscapes fit neatly within blistering basement/garage rock on this 23-track collection which flows chronologically backwards through the ten year evolution of the group under its various monikers (UKLA, The Gasoline Gang, and Green Panic). This is the kind of thing which catches your interest on the first listen and just gets progressively better. I only wish I had caught on to these guys before -- the liner notes mention that UKLA broke up recently which means that I lose out in a big way unless this CD gets the attention it deserves and maybe sparks a reunion (?). Here's hopin'."

- Chris Weissmuller, October 2000

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UKLA’s LTD. is an epic chronology, born in the tradition of punk but landing on planets of jazz, pop, garage, surf, psychedelia, and rocket science…These punks are making art! UKLA’s rhythmic gyrations and glottal undulations are simultaneously bone cracking and neck stretching… a sound to fill the void between Television’s Marquee Moon and Husker Du’s Zen Arcade. LTD. was over a decade in the making…from the trippy paranoid strains of "Venus Flytrap" to the spaced out phasey layers of "Sandpeople" UKLA’s unique arrangements are like hot wax globules oozing into the third ear you never knew you had, promptly planting themselves like subliminal alien bulbs deep inside your soul.

The disc progresses backwards through time and space through Boston and Hartford, through the early 90’s and late 80’s until we end up in a Farmington, CT. basement. Here captured on cassette 4-track is the birth of UKLA (then known as Green Panic). "What It’s Like," "Get Up" and "Roadkill" crackle and blister with thumb-splitting power chords and smug teen wisdom, threatening to usurp the lo-fi anthem throne long occupied by Randy Alvey and his "Green Fuzz." Never before has a rock band combined the lyrical charm and musicality of Cake with the loose hazy confidence of the Troggs. Music fans should pray that Fan Attic/ELIS EIL keeps this disc in print long enough for the masses to catch up."

- Ken Cormier, December 1999

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RE: "Noel Mayoro"/"Audience" 7":

UKLA's hodgepodge of blues, jazz, lounge, pop, rock, and New Wave is certainly refreshing.  The slow build of "Noel Mayoro" is reminiscent of the blues until the bass line explodes into jazz-infued bedlam that would make Les Claypool proud; it's the rapid-fire tempo changes that are exciting.

- Elissa Dennis, The Noise #161, May 1996

RE: "SPACESHIPS/OLÉ" 7":

"When you are in a three piece band, you have got to make sure nobody slips, and in this case UKLA has dried up the floors and made sure everyone is wearing super glue on their shoes."- The Pit Report #30, October 1995" a wild cosmic thing that is relentless."

- Stubble #13, October 1995

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RE: "W-O / TJS 510" 

Split 7" with Bald Guys

"a cool hybrid of the Minutemen if they performed on the Muppet Show"- The Noise #151, June 1995"A kind of new version of the music used in the movie 'The Three Stooges in Orbit'

- Stubble #12, August 1995

RE: "Old / Teenage Boardroom"

"...I’m not sure if it's the guitar or the bass - one of them fell down the stairs and played upsidedown"

- New England Performer #4, April 1994

RE: "Run & Hide/Up in the Air"

"Gang Green meets the Dogmatics…Run & Hide pretty much says it all without trying to say anything, which is better that trying to say everything while saying nothing at all."

- Butch & Brenda, The Noise #95, May 1990

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