TLXN: THE LOVE X NOWHERE: Press

Exploring lush drone rock that nods to Obscured by Clouds/Meddle-era Pink Floyd, U2 circa An Unforgettable Fire, and shoegazer favorites like Slowdive and Ride, local outfit The Love X Nowhere hit its stride on the 2006 vinyl-only EP Into the Fire. Tracked in a single-weekend session at S.F.'s famed Tiny Telephone studio, the record captures the nuanced hooks and shimmering guitars of Brett Chulada and Gabriel Leis in all their analog glory. The band's compelling atmospherics should make a fine soundtrack to post-Thanksgiving boozing when TLXN share the stage with Greg Ashley — the mastermind behind neo-psych titans the Gris Gris.

Modern psychedelic rock gets a bad rap; endless comparisons to the genre's pioneers and apathy among general audiences plague its artists, who must fend off irrelevance at every turn. Yet San Francisco's The Love X Nowhere (TLXN), a quintet of experienced local musicians, keeps fighting the good fight while earning quiet credit from fans and critics. And yes, they sound like Pink Floyd. Friday, they play the Oakland Metro with support from the Catholic Comb, 2006 Express readers' pick for best band, and Walnut Creek alt-rockers Mister Loveless.

What TLXN specialize in is a big, rich sound that evokes the elegant, suave vastness of mid-70s Roxy Music, or early Simple Minds. If you like melody, these guys are for you. But what really sends me is the 13-minute 'Spill The Ink,' which drifts along like Miles Davis discovering shoegaze music and Television at the same time.

When a local band that plays music right up your alley has been written up in both the SF Weekly and the Chronicle, yet you still haven't heard of them, does this mean you've spent the last year in a cave? In NASCENT's case, no, unless small apartments count as caves. More likely, it means that there's so much great independent music going on in the Bay Area right now that even those of us who make an effort to hear as much of it as possible are bound to miss some of the good stuff.

The Love X Nowhere is one of those innumerable mystery bands that play local shows all the time, frequently impress fans and critics, and earn occasional write-ups in local publications, yet still operate off the radar of your average indie aficionado. NASCENT is here to fix that. Psychedelic rock is certainly not near as popular today as it was during its late-'60s heyday, but if it's going to continue to catch on among younger audiences anywhere, it's gonna happen in San Francisco.

The Love X Nowhere's sound is more akin to Pink Floyd than the Grateful Dead, but the idea is the same: trip out to long, nearly formless songs that allow the mind to wander and the body to relax. At live shows, the band projects colorful -- shall we say, LSD-inspired? -- visuals on a giant screen behind the stage to facilitate the whole tune in, turn on, drop out experience. Yet all these associations with '60s counterculture bely the group's firm grip on '90s indie- and post-rock. TLXN fans are not aging hippies (well, some of them may be), but moreso hipsters and indie rockers who like to spin My Bloody Valentine and Cocteau Twins records late at night. It may be too easy to declare that this is a talented, psychedelia-inspired SF rock group for the 21st century, but that's the truth.

"Indie" doesn't do justice to the Love X Nowhere's lush blend of pretty and trippy. The local 'group' laces together its shoe-gazer tendencies and obvious taste for Zeppelin-era prog-rock with oblique, psychedelic flourishes reminiscent of early Blonde Redhead.

The Love X Nowhere Find Themselves -- by Jimmy Leslie Oakland Tribune -- June 7, 2006

After years of feeling their way through the fog, often to delightfully dreamy results, The Love X Nowhere (pronounced "The Love Times Nowhere") feel they've arrived on their new EP Into the Fire. "It's a really strong step foward," says co-founder Gabriel Leis, "and it makes me very excited about where we're going." The psychedelic pop-rock band's story is built on guitarist/vocalist Leis and keyboardist/vocalist Michael Chulada's unwavering belief that if they stayed true to their muses, a great band would form around them.

When the San Francisco space-rock outfit Maud Dib fell apart in 2002, Leis and Chulada played on as a duo, with Leis singing lead. "When our songs outgrew the two-piece, we decided we wanted to put a band together," he explains, "but we didnt have the musicians. We figured if we made a good enough record, it would probably attract the right people."

The Love X Nowhere's debut EP did exactly that in the spring of 2004. The first key acquistion came in the form of bassist Yuki Kasuya, whose experience upped the band's musical ability and professionalism. They began playing shows and quickly found a following with shoe-gazers who were ready to rock their socks off. When Chulada's brother Brett joined the band during that summer, he turned out to be such a strong singer and guitarist that Leis handed over lead duties. "Brett really made the songs come alive," says Leis, who put his ego aside for the greater good and began focusing on his gloriously atmospheric guitar playing and gorgeous harmony vocals.

The band's second effort, Odyssey, captured a transitional phase. "At first, Brett sang my songs, but then we started writing together, and you hear that relationship just starting on Odyssey," says Leis, who sings lead on two of the six songs. Drummer Adam Perry joined the band last summer and proved to be the final puzzle piece. The band was so excited to feel fully realized that it went into the studio right away, despite having just put out a record.

TLXN recorded Into the Fire at John Vanderslice's fabled analog den, Tiny Telephone, and it will be released only as a limited-edition vinyl EP. "I enjoy the vinyl experience because you can really feel the low end in a way that doesnt translate digitally," claims Leis. Even though the songs swirl with the ambiance and layers of depth that TLXN has become known for, the material was cut live to tape with very few overdubs in just one weekend. "For the first time, the recording reflects what it sounds like when you get these five guys together in a room, rather than a sound that was created layer by layer," Leis says.

It's also the first time that Brett Chulada's darker songwriting plays a primary role. "My songs are more subjective, moodier and have more to do with human emotions than the human condition," he says. Leis adds "As opposed to my lyrics, which are mostly about reconciling a natural and spiritual awareness with the urban experience."

On record, The Love X Nowhere is a trippy, headphone-friendly experience that combines glimmering indie-pop a la Cocteau Twins with the cinematic elements of classic Pink Floyd. Onstage, the the band brings more noise. "We keep the energy level high to make sure heads are bouncing and people are dancing," says Leis. "There's always a pack of girls up front jumping around, which makes us feel pretty good." If some of those girls look a bit sexier than your average City concert-goer, it may be because Michael Chulada is also a DJ at the Gold Club and a few of his co-workers usually show up to support TLXN.

The Love X Nowhere sound has drawn many comparisons to Pink Floyd, and it’s obvious why on upon hearing the first psychedelic notes of the band’s upcoming vinyl EP, Into the Fire. Recorded at Tiny Telephone, engineer Justin Phelps captured the quintet’s headphone (the big ones, not the iPod ones) music with a lushness last heard on albums from band’s like The Verve and Spaceman 3. As often is the case on vinyl records, the gem is found on the b-side: the sprawling, mellow and upbeat “Spill the Ink,” featuring horns and playful lyrics.

Record-release parties are a dime a dozen, but an actual record-release party -- as in vinyl -- is certainly worth getting excited about. So are The Love X Nowhere's in-orbit rock escapades, which contain only faint traces of the goth that the band's moniker implies. Singer Brett Chulada can get a little too dramatic at times, but it's probably just the product of him getting caught up in the reach-for-the-sky arrangements, which bring to mind everyone from Spiritualized to The Verve to Slowdive. The local quintet recorded the new four-song Into the Fire at Tiny Telephone in December.

"Hey ya'll SF Indie: you really need to catch TLXN next time ya get the chance! They've really got their sound dialed-in, and it's a vast wall of it, I must say! For fans of the 'cleaner' aspects of shoegaze to instrumental passages reminiscent of latter-day Floyd to majestic pop in a U2 vein these guys have it covered, and are destined to go beyond indie!"

The Love X Nowhere self-describe themselves as a “rainy night,” but their music is anything but dreary. ... With intricate piano and guitar and poignant lyrics that will take you to another place, Love X Nowhere is better than anything Chris Martin could ever attempt and cloud your mind and soul just as Radiohead does.

"Progressive-rock band The Love X Nowhere performs its smooth, psychedelic jams at SoHo tonight. Straight out of San Francisco, TLXN harmonizes genres of the classic Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin eras, creating a molasses-heavy groove mixed with steady poetic lyrics."

"I picked up a track or two on a whim, but the music was so startling i bought the whole thing...Swirling synths, delicate guitar strokes and ethereal vocals give the record a Cure meets Postal Service feel. Check it out!"

San Francisco-based band The Love X Nowhere brings their unique mellow, psychedelic infused rock to Café Du Nord on Tuesday, October 4. Celebrating the release of their second EP, Odyssey, The Love X Nowhere's latest album has the kind of sound that seems all too appropriate for San Francisco.

Languid, contemplative, and vaguely melancholy, many of the songs from Odyssey seem well suited for a foggy and cool evening in the city. The Love X Nowhere was spawned by founding members Gabriel and Michael. Formerly the frontmen for the space rock influenced Muad Dib, it's clear a similar sound and feel has directed the song production of The Love X Nowhere.

Davis Grads Return For Local Concert
by Landon Christensen,
The Davis (CA) Enterprise

You have to cheer local boys on their way up.
The Love X Nowhere - and that's pronounced The Love "Times" Nowhere - will rock the house at 10 p.m. Saturday at the G Street Pub, 228 G St., Davis.
The band plays a mix of shoegaze and classic psychedelic rock. Drawing from classic 1990s bands like Slowdive, along with middle-era Pink Floyd, the music is lush, blissful and euphoric.
Don't miss this opportunity to witness brothers Brett and Michael Chulada rock their hometown.
The San Francisco band is truly independent - no label yet - and worthy of support. In an indie scene stagnant with mopey emo bands, The Love X Nowhere stands apart.
Brett Chulada explained the band's genesis: "It started as a duo with my brother and Gabriel [Leis]. They played in a band before, called Muad Dib. That attracted our bass player, Yuki Kasuya. I joined the band a little over a year ago, and we just acquired a new drummer, Adam Perry. We finally have a lineup that's gonna fly."
Chulada warmed up while describing the writing process:
"We're pretty song oriented, although when we rehearse we free-form jam. Some song ideas come out of that, but in a lot of cases song ideas come from either me or Gabriel."
The band uses electronics to great effect.
"Michael covers synthesizers and keyboards. There's lots of production work and layering; no samples, just multi-tracking keys and synths."
Unlike other bands of the indie genre, The Love X Nowhere's vocals are front and center.
"Lyrics are important," Chulada said. "The music is classified as shoegaze, but the lyrics are poetry. That's the bridge between the listener and the energy of what made the song happen."
Being a Bay Area band hasnt been easy, what with the regions over-abundance of bands. "San Francisco is tough. Its hard to get people out to see shows...it's a great city for touring acts, but hard for local bands. The Love X Nowhere hopes touring will gain them more exposure.
Meanwhile, the band is promoting its latest EP, Odyssey, which was released in early October to a sold-out crowd at Cafe Du Nord in San Francisco. Currently the guys are hard at work with producer Justin Phelps at John Vanderslice's Tiny Telephone Studios in San Francisco. They plan to release a four-song vinyl album called Into the Fire in January.
Chulada is excited about returning "home."
"I graduated from Davis High School in 1992, and my brother graduated in 1991. I hope the people who still know me in Davis come out to the show."
"It'll be nice to come back and really bring it on."

The Love X Nowhere create lush indie soundscapes and make San Francentric music that drops like sparks from the Muni lines on a rainy night. The band is part Pink Floyd, part shoegazing rock, with a little jangly REM (circa '83) thown in for good measure.

SPACEY SOUNDS, BEAUTIFUL HARMONIES - The Love X Nowhere are a wonderfully spacey [quintet] whose music resurrects that hope and loneliness you felt when you first heard Pink Floyd playing from your cousin's tape deck. Proficient and fun, this group makes seeing live music worthwhile again.
- Vadim, posted 10/15/04 Tribe.net

SF locals The Love X Nowhere?s debut 6 song EP begins with a cloud of swirly keyboards. VISIONS TAKE SHAPE OF A SHIMMERING SPACE SHIP COMIN' IN FOR A LANDING, BUT AS THE HATCH OPENS WE'RE GREETED WITH STRAIGHTFORWARD ENERGETIC POP ROCKS. This first song 'Unworthy' is propelled by a driving beat and boyish vocal harmonies that sorta reminded me of Sloan. From there things move back to the moodier, spacier and Pink Floyd-ier sound that was hinted at by those first few moments. Layers of trippy psych-folk-y acoustic and electric guitars with mellow male vocals. The highlights are definitely the aforementioned lead-off track and the second to last, a lush string-laden number '#45'. Very nice!

A post-rock/pop release with good GROUP-SOUND and some late Pink Floyd reminiscence but seen from a new independent rock sound concept.