Antillectual

The new album is only out for pre-order and already we're receiving reactions, responses and reviews. Which are actually quite nice, to say the least. Below you can read two reviews from Italian zines.

Lamette Punk Webzine source

January 27, 2008: Antillectual – Testimony cd (No Reason Records, 2008)

The record actually doesn't come out in our country till March, and therefore I'm reviewing this album in advance: Antillectual – the latest addition to No Reason Records' catalog – coming from Nijmegen, the Netherlands, play a mixture of punk-hardcore in the style of the labels' previous releases (Rentokill, Enemy Alliance / Indecision Alarm). Melody and political commitment, in the spirit of Propagandhi, is the basis for this complex and valuable release. Valuable on several levels: the excellent looking digipack and especially the booklet – graphically sublime, including texts and additional notes for every single lyric – are no longer just an extra, but are an essential factor for the complete understanding of the message.

The 10 tracks are strongly structured  (from the musical professionalism it shows Antillectual clearly prefers unusual arrangements) and finalized very well with lyrical content: an anarchist point of view is present during the entire album, while the band gives its opinions on American imperialist policy ("Testimony"), on multinationals and their impact on the culture and the resistance against it ("Sponsorship for life"), on prison policy ("I hope you got my letter"), feminism ("Waves") and the punk circuit itself ("I hate myself when I shave myself"). In other moments, however, the discussion focuses on the personal state of mind and on individual positions. This happens without discussing concrete situations, but rather browsing the philosophical field ("Benefit of the doubt" probably one of the best songs of the album).

Testimony is certainly not a simple album, but in its kind it is undoubtedly an incredibly coherent and meticulously thought out piece of music. All this in the spirit of the highlights of the DIY movement of the eighties. It's highly recommended listening to it on repeat, especially if you want to expand your views and musical ideas. I suggest you to immediately order your copy.
[Simone]

Dedication Music Magazine source

Antillectual – "Testimony" (No Reason Records)

File under: Melodic hardcore/punk
Like: Propagandhi, With Honor, Crime In Stereo, No Trigger, Much The Same.
It seemed like I'm listening to the new album by the great Propagandhi, but it is "only" the debut record from the Lodi based No Reason Records from Dutch band Antillectual. Our old friends ("Silencing Civilization" – review).

"Testimony" will come out next March 3 and win over all lovers of this kind of music with their refined melodic hardcore/punk enriched with political and social lyrics. But, frankly, the lyrics stay a little in the background because of the quality of the music. This is a plus point though.There are several resemblances with the Canadian, and sometimes it appears almost plagiarism (they simply love Propagandhi too much), but in the end Antillectual convinces me totally and doesn't leave any unpleasant feeling behind. It all works out for the best.High technically compositions enriched by diverse rhythms and melodies, this is one of the better punk/hardcore releases in recent months. With sincere regards to the increasingly stubborn and conscious No Reason Records, which seems very determined to focus on this style in Italy
4 out of 5
(Aob – 4/2/08)

If you are curious what this album is all about, you can now pre-order the vinyl/12"/LP version from Shield Recordings. Pre-orders will get colored wax, a release poster and extra Shield Recordings stuff. The first 40 pre-orders will get the Antillectual "Waves" 7" as a bonus (also on colored wax! and sold out, since we don't have any copies left ourselves …). Email Shield Recordings, or check their website for pre-orders.When you're interested in the digipack version of the album go to one of the releasing labels. Note that No Reason Records from Italy offers the record in combination with the Enemy Alliance/The Indecision Alarm-split for 15 euro, shipping included in Europe. Check!

Labels:
http://www.fondoflife.net
http://www.myspace.com/infectedrecordsdiy
http://www.noreasonrecords.com
http://www.riseorrustrecords.com
http://www.theshieldhardcore.com
http://www.youthwayrecords.com

Furthermore, we have some terrible news to announce. A lot of you might have met Etjen (our friend and driver from "Just Like Your Mom" tour support) when we came over on one of the tours we did the last years. Either in his camouflage printed van, or his insanely equipped luxury van. Since he helped us out in the best possible way and since a lot of you might know him (through us) we felt necessary to report this. Last week his van got crashed and crushed by a truck in the UK, total loss. Since it was parked there weren't any people involved and there wasn't any equipment broken. But since driving us and other bands around is not only his life but also his living, we hope he can get back on the road as soon as possible with a new van. We wish him all the luck we can!

Last, we still have some dates to fill on our upcoming tour in southern France, Spain and/or Portugal. If you feel like helping us out, please do so! The dates are these:

March 7: available
March 8: available
March 9: available
March 10: available
March 11: available

If you think you can fill our voids, let us know. If you can help us out with a show anywhere else, even in Holland, let us know. We have a new release. We want to play.

That's it! Take care.