You do not sense what is really wrong with a certain kind of music until you hear that one record that does things differently, grabs you totally, takes you away to places you thought you would never reach. The psychedelic noise rock that has been going under the name of New Weird America, for some time now, has been hitting rock-bottom. In the same way it is getting harder and harder to equal, let alone surpass, the intensity of Wolf Eyes or Hair Police in the noise quadrant, it was becoming almost impossible to excell in the neo-psych folk corners after definitive statements by Six Organs Of Admittance, Jack Rose, Pelt, Charalambides et alia. To cut it short: A lot of noodling has been going on lately, thousands of 'interesting' cd-r's flood the market, but nobody is making a point anymore.

And then suddenly there is Grails, a band that makes you point your ears and realize there is still a margin for progress. Grails boldly reach across continents, their music is literally of this world. Like the best moments of Can, they transport you from the endless prairies and highways of America, sweep you through the Indian backlands and deserts of Central Asia and then safely put you down so you can take a breath again and marvel at the sultry Mediterranean vistas of Greece and Turkey and Spain. In the time of one record they make you feel as if you are experiencing soundless dawn and plain sunlight and atmospheric dusk and the still of the night. Grails relish in rain and thunder, wind and storm, mountains and sea, sun and moon, steam and sand. Grails has eloquence, Grails knows what intimacy is, Grails loves grand gestures, Grails revels in datails. Grails make music a discovery again. Grails prove that music can still be exciting. Grails dare but do not fail.

Grails have many things for them. But most of all, they have got IT. Hearing is believing.