The Deli is intimately familiar with the musical inclinations of electronic musician and composer Dan Friel, having featured his previous band Parts & Labor on the cover of its 11th NYC issue back in 2006. The noise rock group called it quits in 2012, after which Friel mostly focused on running his label Cardboard Records in conjunction with former P&L bassist J.Warshaw. We are thrilled to find out that Dan has a new project, and that it’s as noisy as his previous one. Named Upper Wilds, the band plays what could be described as a noisy brand of drone-rock with industrial and (rather buried) pop influences. Distorted guitars, synths, drums, and vocals overlap and blend, in some kind of well orchestrated orgy of fuzz. Dan’s earnest sounding vocal melodies, at times reminiscent of early R.E.M. and seminal hardcore band Hüsker Dü, emerge from this sea of distortion, somehow giving it an organized shape. Like the aforementioned bands’ records, this album has a monolithic, recognizable sound, but what it loses in variety, it gains in power and impact – we can’t find a weak song in it. The group will be celebrating the release of their debut album "Guitar Module 2017" at Alphaville on October 7th.
