PLAYLOUDER UK

ROCK SOUND UK

from ROCK SOUND:
Named after the misshapen and expicitly posed pubescent dolls of surrealist Hans Bellmer, this Brooklyn goth-punk trio pride themselves on being of an equally controversial persuasion.  With pulsing, dirty blues-style bass and pervasively haunting lead lines on both guitar and keys, the overall effect is that of destructive, debauched elegance.  Addictively sinister. [RK]

PLAYLOUDER.COM(live review)

BELLMER DOLLS
PlayLouder @ The Old Blue Last, London UK
Wednesday, December 6th 2006

Three years ago I interviewed a man called James Sclavunos. If that name rings a bell, it might be because Sclavunos is the Bad Seeds' drummer, The Horrors' producer and a member of the emergent Grinderman. The subject of our conversation, though, was Sclavunos' own band The Vanity Set, creators of avant-garde music that's equal parts jazzy, progressive, gothic, literary and burlesque. At one point Sclavunos told me about his guitarist Peter Mavrogeorgis. "I quite disliked him when I first met him," recalled the six-foot-eight-inch aristocrat of his six-string accomplice, "but I've come to quite adore him... There's a couple of Greeks in the band; there's some sort of weird magnetism there."

Based in New York City, Bellmer Dolls aim to infuse ugly trash-blues with an air of Weimar decadence. Mavrogeorgis is their singer and guitarist, so it's no surprise to see Sclavunos in the audience. It's even less of a surprise to see Gallon Drunk singer (and erstwhile Bad Seed) James Johnston here, for his is perhaps the band that Bellmer Dolls most resemble.

The week before this gig, I saw the Dolls play a slightly sloppy, indulgent show at Hoxton Bar & Grill. Tonight, it's a different story: they're fierce and focused. Driving the band forward is bassist Anthony Malat who, rather perfectly, runs a New York menswear boutique called Sinner/Saint. Malat looks like he should be in a cowpunk band and, equally, like he could kill with his bare hands, and he plays his bass like he's wrestling an enraged serpent. Yet in sonic terms he's the band's sensible one. His pounding, hypnotic bass-lines provide a solid structure from which Mavrogeorgis (and drummer Daniel Sheerin) can depart on flights of fancy.

Always a restless, twitchy presence, Mavrogeorgis occasionally goes through something like an onstage exorcism. It happens tonight during the penultimate 'Push! Push!' (the fire-and-brimstone sermon that opens debut EP 'The Big Cats Will Throw Themselves Over'). As the song slow-burningly builds toward climax, Mavrogeorgis flips out. Diving from the stage, he starts screaming the song's titular invocation while swinging his guitar wildly about by the strap. It whizzes within inches of the front row's noses, but nobody moves a muscle. We're transfixed.

Mavrogeorgis here exhibits the same deranged preacher-man intensity in which James Johnston once specialised. Also like Gallon Drunk, Bellmer Dolls are maybe best described as blooze-hounds: their take on old-school rhythm & blues sounds like it's full of strong liquor and tweaked beyond reason. Behind the drumkit, Sheerin is a cyclone of intensity. Out front, Mavrogeorgis frenziedly coaxes noise and feedback (plus the odd shimmering melody line) from his Rickenbacker, while delivering reference-loaded lyrics in a breathless, strangulated croon.

After 'Push! Push!' has provided the set's crescendo, Bellmer Dolls find themselves in the classic Trail of Dead quandary: the stage has pretty much been trashed, but there's still one song to play. They persevere, though: wires are untangled, equipment plugged back in and straps reaffixed to guitars, and during the subsequent set-closer the impression is of a vicious storm dying down and calmness descending. When the Dolls finally take their leave to approving roars, a passing fan records pity for whoever has to follow them.

This, then, is Bellmer Dolls. I disliked them when I first met them, but I've come to quite adore them. There's some sort of weird magnetism there.

Niall O'Keeffe (playlouder.com)

DORFDISCO DE(live review)

Zillo DE(Translation) Art punk/ noise goth from NY, just how we know it and love it. The Bellmer Dolls have already played with the likes of Jon Spencer's Blue Explosion and Jarboe (Swans) and move in musically similar fields as Nick Cave or Lydia Lunch circa Teenage Jesus and 8 Eyed Spy. Dark, excessive, and damaged noise- the blues for modern times. The singer manages to pack confusion and depression into his melodies. In addition you get raw guitars and buzzing rhythm that burn into your entrails-- emotional music that won't leave anyone cold. The opener "Push!Push!" sounds like it's from a soundtrack to a Jim Jarmush film, in black and white of course. Aside from that, a heavy Nick Cave-vibe exemplified in "the Diva" or "L'Condition Humaine"; otherwise a dark, threatening atmosphere like Lydia Lunch cultivated on her 13:13 album ("Every Angel.." "There is No Oblivion"). In the Big Cats, the Bellmer Dolls achieved an absolutely fantastic EP. On top of that, the whole thing was produced and perfected by Jim Sclavunous who already worked with Sonic Youth, Nick Cave, and the Cramps. This is music that's as fascinating and disturbing as Hans Bellmer's dolls. This band will get huge. Consider this your insider's tip!

Dorfdisco DE(Translation)
New Yorkers The Bellmer Dolls don't directly embody the influence of their namesake, but the point of reference isn't exactly misleading either. Just as the 1930's era artist and  anarchist Hans Bellmer simultaneously revolted against politics, the art scene, and the gaze of the voyeur with his bizarre and swollen dolls, one could describe the Bellmer Dolls’ sound as an obsessive investigation into the anatomy of the unconscious. Heavy, gothic-punk styled bass and anarchic drumming develop the foundation for the suggestive guitars and soulful, uncannily spat vocals; something that Jim Jarmusch called "dark and damaged - just like I like it". Produced by New York's milestone Jim Sclavunos (Teenage Jesus & the Jerks, Sonic Youth, Cramps, and the drummer of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds) and released on the stylish maverick label Hungry Eye out of New York(Phantom Limbs, Weegs, Sixteens, etc), Bellmer Dolls are a melancholic inside edition of carnal lust. They were recently voted into Paper Magazine's top Beautiful people; now they just need commence a German tour for the first time.

Orkus DE(Translation)
Harter Tobak(?) sure, but what a grandiose debut EP. The Bellmer Dolls out of the Big Apple on the east coast of the United States combine all that that you just have to love the arty post-punk scene for: forceful compositions, manic vocals, heavy guitars, dense percussion, and a song writing that just makes its way under your skin and makes you wonder if the Big Cats Will Throw Themselves Over really is the NY trio's first work. The Bellmer Dolls were given a little production assistance by Jim Sclavunos, who already worked with such illustrious musicians as Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, the Cramps, Lydia Lunch, and Sonic Youth.  Sonic Youth is a good point of reference as well, since [Bellmer Dolls’] wall-of-sound guitars might remind you of some of the compositions by these fellow East Coast Art Punks. And if you listen carefully, you might also draw parallels to Bauhaus's early material, who just as freely and totally eluded any sort of compartmentalized comparisons with their music. No wonder, then, that the Bellmer Dolls already shared the stage with the Bravery, Pretty Girls Make Graves, and Jarboe. With a little bit of luck we might see the Bellmer Dolls' full length some time this year. And with a little more luck we'll also see them soon on these shores. Extraordinary!

Harter Tobak, okay, aber was für eine grandiose Debüt-EP. The Bellmer Dolls aus dem Big Apple an der Ostküste der Vereinigten Staaten bündeln all das, wofür man die arty-farty Post Punk-Szene einfach lieben muss: Durchdringende Kompositionen, manischer Gesang, schwere Gitarren, dichte Percussions und ein Songwriting, das dermaßen unter die Haut geht, dass man zurecht anzweifeln könnte, ob es The Big Cats Will Throw Themselves Over tatsächlich das Erstlingswerk des Trio aus New York City ist. Produktionstechnisch wurde den Bellmer Dolls von Jim Sclavunos unter die Arme gegriffen, der immerhin schon mit illustren Musikern, wie z.B. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, The Cramps, Lydia Lunch und Sonic Youth zusammengearbeitet hat. Sonic Youth sind eh ein gutes Stichwort, denn an deren Wall Of Sound-Gitarren erinnern manche Kompositionen der East Coast-Art-Punks durchaus, wohingegen man, wenn man genau hinhört, hier und da auch Parallelen zu den Frühwerken von Bauhaus ziehen könnte, die ebenso frei und fernab jegliches Schubladendenkens an ihre Musik herangegangen sind. Kein Wunder daher auch, dass The Bellmer Dolls bereits mit The Bravery, Pretty Girls Make Graves oder Jarboe auf der Bühne standen. Mit ein bisschen Glück erscheint noch in diesem Jahr die Full-Length-CD. Und mit noch mehr Glück sind The Bellmer Dolls dann auch hoffentlich bald hierzulande zu sehen. Großartig! (9) Thomas Thyssen

The Big Takeover
Bellmer Dolls
The Big Cats Will Throw Themselves Over
   (Hungry Eye)
The spare growling groove of "Push! Push!" kicks off the gritty, slithering art-punk on the Bellmer Dolls' debut EP splendidly. What follows is a Birthday Party-influenced set of songs that happen to be produced by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and Sonic Youth alum Jim Sclavunos. A healthy sense of drama is ever present, and the band knows when to exercise restraint, when to launch into a crescendo of dissonance, and when to simply rock out. "There Is No Oblivion" hints at Fugazi and "Pictures" brings Jon Spencer's damaged rockabilly to mind (the band was actually hand-picked by Spencer to tour with the Blues Explosion a while back), but the Bellmer Dolls nevertheless retain a unique flair. Peter Mavrogeorgis pulls off the whispering, shouting, creaking and crooning quite well - the prickly gothic doom that he gives voice to on The Big Cats Will Throw Themselves Over is spellbinding. (www.hungryeyerecords.com).
by Kristen Sollee

XLR8R
Bellmer Dolls The Big Cats Will Throw Themselves Over Hungry Eye
You can affix the label post-punk, goth, or noise to this trio, but the fact is that these passionate mystics make artful jams with more soul than your average gloomy outfit. Featuring members of Love Life, Universal Order of Armageddon, et al., The Big Cats Will Throw Themselves Over is the aural equivalent of a weeklong bender in the most seedy, sensual nightclub this side of Babylon.

emusic.com
Evoking equally the manic insanity of the Birthday Party and the grim insistence of Swans, New York City's Bellmer Dolls make vicious Weimar rock & roll that's steeped in shadow and stinks of blood. It's no surprise that bassist Anthony Malat used to be in LoveLife (the goth/horror band that also spun-off Celebration) or that singer Peter Mavrogeorgis played guitar for Angels of Light; like those bands, the Bellmer Dolls push terror to its extreme, creating songs that shriek and twitch and howl. The tension comes from the balancing of contrasts: the bass is low and creeps like a fever while the guitar lines are spastic and spiky. But it's never just throttle-and-screech: there's a passage at the center of the preciously-titled "L'Condition Humaine" where the guitars indulge in a harrowing highwire act, twitching and wobbling anxiously. There's a cold horror at the core of these songs that nags and unsettles. The Big Cats is an exquisite corpse, a great demonstration of violent decay.  
-J. Edward Keyes  

Indie Workshop
Bellmer Dolls
The Big Cats Will Throw Themselves Over
Hungry Eye Records
www.bellmerdolls.com

Outside of New York City there are not too many people fawning over the dark sounds of the Bellmer Dolls, but i'm pretty confident all that will change. About a year ago we picked up this band's last 7" (The Diva) for the distro. Well now with the release of The Big Cats Will Throw Themselves Over we get to see (or rather hear) a full EP's worth of material from the group the Village Voice called "Brooklyn noise-goth royalty".

Six songs, two of them being from that 7", bleed out of your stereo like some ritualistic bloodletting. Dark songs that lurch back and forth with a fixed and malicious stare. Basically, it's creepy. But the songs are also solid works of bleak pop. It's not just creepy to be creepy, it's just the vibe that the Bellmer Dolls give of. And with a full-length in the works, I'll be sitting here, somewhat scared, waiting for the next batch of songs they have to offer.

KFJC FM Radio
Bellmer Dolls “Big Cats Will Throw Themselves Over, The” [Hungry Eye]

These New York “Dolls” aren’t fronted by David Johansen. Nope, the Bellmer Dolls are from Brooklyn, emerging 35 years after the early proto-punk glam era and featuring ex-members of Angels of Light, Love Life, and U.O.A. They certainly aren’t the first band to adopt “Dolls” as part of their namesake, but the New York punk scenes’ lingering ethic, essence & vitality still courses through their veins. Admittedly, their dramatically theatric vibe resonates more raucous art & post-punk subgenre traits with a predisposition towards the macabre & dark hued goth aesthetic. Sometimes I swear I almost hear Lux Interior, with a touch of Glenn Danzig or Ian Astbury coming through Peter Mavrogerorgis’ semi-distorted vocals but it’s certainly no imitation. Phat punchy bass lines and attack fractured guitar lines decay & sustain beautifully melancholic modulations. Heavy syncopated rhythms & gloomy lyrics provide perfect cathartic bleakness. These guys are awesome, exerting enough mysterious explosive energy to attract the attention of Jon Spencer (Blues Explosion) on stage and Jim Sclavunos’ (ex-Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, The Cramps, Sonic Youth, and currently Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds) production savvy on their Hungry Eye debut! Badabing!

— Guy Montag

L.A. Alternative
Doll Parts
During the Nazi Party's rise to power in Germany in the 1930s, a sculptor named Hans Bellmer began to create pubescent, life-sized, explicitly sexual dolls; their surreal, awkward forms presented as a kind of protest against the Nazi cult of the perfect body. The Bellmer Dolls, a New York goth-punk trio, translate their namesake's mutant sculptures into music, crafting malformed songs around harsh guitar chords and punchy basslines.

Portland Mercury
Who made the rule that sex cheapens one's music? (If the Bellmer Dolls were selling actual sex, it would not be cheap—they were recently picked for Paper Magazine's Top Beautiful People list and featured on the cover page of the New York Times' fashion section.) Their recent EP, The Big Cats Will Throw Themselves Over, is the first clearly recorded material that flaunts Peter Mavrogeorgis' seductively heart-squeezing and irascible vocals, conjoined with moan-y guitars that end up sounding like Interpol (minus the asinine lyrics) meets Pulp Fiction meets Celebration meets a cheap cigarette dangling off pouty lips. The year spent on this EP and the pristine production by Jim Sclavunos (Sonic Youth, Nick Cave) is a sweet, dark, glam rock laurel for the Brooklyn goth assemblage to rest upon for some time to come. JENNA ROADMAN

S.F. Chronicle
Come hear them play, but don't expect a soothing set that will take your cares away.   In fact, you'll probably be exhausted afterward.  Like Hans Bellmer the artist, Bellmer Dolls will infect you with the intense emotion they dedicate to their art.

PAPER MAGAZINE, APRIL '06 (http://www.papermag.com/?section=article&parid=1243)

Photograph by Cass Bird

The Bellmer Dolls' compulsion to create music knows no bounds. "I should have quit music at least a hundred times," says bassist Anthony S. Malat (center). "If you knock me down I'll get back up. Unfortunately, that's the way we all are." Malat, who also provides the band's sharp look with his successful menswear line Sinner/Saint, and Peter Mavrogeorgis (vocals, guitar) met five years ago when they were playing in the bands Love Life and Vanity Set, respectively, finding drummer Daniel Sheerin through a Craigslist posting. Sheerin (right) was surprised by but ultimately down with the approach the other two took to his "audition," which didn't involve music but was instead a drinking session -- an endurance test of sorts. After a year of writing and fine-tuning, the New York�based band self-released their debut in 2005, Never Sates Nor Palls, after which they began recording anew with old pal Jim Sclavunos as producer. Meanwhile, they toured, supporting bands such as the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Pretty Girls Make Graves and the Bravery.

Together they produce a sound that is pulled taut from long nights of rehearsal and a die- hard self-sufficiency that comes from many years on the road. Onstage, their dark, bass-driven, depths-of-hell music emerges with an intense physical energy. "We're very disciplined," explains Mavrogeorgis (left). "When we're onstage, it doesn't matter what happened to us the day before, we're there in the moment performing our role." Hear their music at www.bellmerdolls.com.
Alex Zafiris

The Bellmer Dolls wear clothing and accessories by Sinner/Saint by Anthony S. Malat. * Grooming by Eve Schlichter/Bumble and bumble.

NYC.com (http://www.nyc.com/people/Grasshopper/blog/3114/Bellmer_Dolls)

DOLL PARTS
In the 30's, German Surrealist Hans Bellmer began dismembering doll parts, only to reassemble the lose appendages into seductively Surrealist sculptures. He was surely on the track to something good, but little did he know he would, years later, bring influence to NYC's rebellious, obscure, underground music scene. Fast forward and meet THE BELLMER DOLLS, whose name was not only inspired by Bellmer's twisted works, but who translate Bellmer's similar ability to reinvent the past. Their "sold out" North Six gig is breathing new life into an audience desperately in need of resuscitation. The Brooklyn based trio of misfits: Peter Mavrogeorgis, Anthony Malat and Daniel Sheerin have been creating a barrage of tormented sounds filled with poetic longing and leaving it's remains along both coasts. Bellmer Dolls spew out a sight-n-sound treat as delicious as the ones you find in your goody bag on Hallow's Night. The band is busy assembling their own pile of discombobulated parts and making it their musical whole. In the studio as we speak working on their sophomore effort with Jim Sclavunos (Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, Lydia Lunch, Sonic Youth) set to produce. These Lost Boys will merge again with musical comrades, Lion Fever (Dim Mak) for their second tour together starting July 2005. Papa Hans would be so proud. For more info, see www.bellmerdolls.com or check them out on MySpace!

OH MY ROCKNESS (http://www.ohmyrockness.com/BandBio.cfm?BandID=615)
The brutal Brooklyn band Bellmer Dolls (named for the disturbing anti-fascist sculptures of Hans Bellmer... a hint that this isn't slow, pretty stuff) features Anthony S. Malat, formerly of the underrated band Love Life. Those brave enough to witness Bellmer Dolls' intense live performance (envision a trio of Ichabod Cranes rocking out) may be riddled with dark visions for days to come. They have taken their twisted goth-punk-noise debauchery on the road supporting bands like Prosaics, Pretty Girls Make Graves and Enon. These guys are so spooky that their new 7" was limited to 666 copies. Yikes! Go to a Bellmer Dolls show, but if you see these guys at the bar... slowly back the fuck away.

xcg

Full article to be posted here in the near future...

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