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You hear a lot of bands talk about how they are trying to break the mold of the music industry and are providing listeners with music that is really something unique and different.  But how many of them are actually doing what they say?  Listening to Primal Static’s The Curtain Of Many Faces, the duo of Greg Thuman and HouFei Yang create songs that combine blues-rock and trance dance beats and give you something completely different with each track on the album.  It’s blues guitar-meets-Fruit Loops, and if you were on the hunt for something new, look no further than Primal Static.

“Love Drone” gives you a taste of the blues, yet the very next track, “Dream Arabic,” really shows off what Thuman does with his sound manipulation talents.  It is like an electro-jam where the guitar provides an infectious melody, and the beats hold the song down and your interest as well.  Songs like “Shelter” provide blues vocals over guitar swells, a mandolin solo and sweet beats really showing off what Primal Static is about.  It’s a trippy combination any band has yet to make, which is what makes Thuman and Yang true innovators in the music world.

Thuman leads Primal Static with his raw vocals, blues guitar and love of dance beats, while Yang accompanies him on keyboard and bass. Yang, who lived in China until she came to the U.S. at age 18, is a classically trained pianist who shows off her skills on “Enimia,” where the piano creates the bass line for the song.   Thuman and Yang stick to anything but a classical approach to things. They have a novel method of creating new music with their combination of sounds that makes them stand out from any other band in the music scene today. Each track on The Curtain Of Many Faces stands out for the sheer fact each one is different from the next making the album one that should stand out in the indie music world.

In A Word:  Innovative

~Megan DiGuilio

“Primal Static are a duo and proud, and by removing what you expect to hear, you focus on what is there. What is there is a nice group that show equal love for pop craftsmanship, punk rock, and an independent spirit that can be heard in the freedom expressed through the two. “Wailer” could be a really twisted blues if Billy Corgan was on ludes, while “Waking Shadows” could be the anthem for the next end-of-the-world event. What I also found unique was that the two members (Greg Thuman is white, Houfei Yang is Chinese) bring in various culture references, or at least allow Yang to include hers to where she’s not just “the alterna- trendly female bassist, and oh, I’m Chinese too”, she brings in elements of who makes her who she is and makes it rock, maybe something that wouldn’t be possible in her homeland (at least not just yet). This is made clear in songs like “Love Drone”, which is a song filled with distorted guitar and bass drones, only interrupted by drums and an agonizing vocal from Thuman that sounds brutal because the stoner metal-pace of the song makes it feel more painful.

Obvious White Stripes comparisons will come up but are completely unnecessary, for this is Primal Static making Primal Static music with their own level of intensity and brilliance. With luck, 2010 will be their year to be even more brillianter. Yes, I realize there isn’t such a word, but I made it up just for them. Thanks.”  ~This Is Book’s Music

Telling me about a two-piece isn’t usually the best way to get my attention, though Primal Static’s The Curtain of Many Faces clearly makes the mark. The duo of Greg Thuman (composer, singer, guitar) and HouFei Yang (keyboard, bass) offer up a ten track work touching off on everything from acid blues, Stooges, dreamy emotion, exotic garage, and elsewhere trance. Sounds like a mess, but pretty nice.