Quixotic Records NYC - Airlines, the self-titled LP

Airlines, self-titled LP

Recorded at: Excello Studios, Brooklyn
Additional tracks recorded on the WFMU Live Music Faucet and 'semi-live' at Sub Rosa
Engineered by: Chad Swanberg, John Tanzer, and John Neilson
Produced by: Airlines
Mixed by: Airlines with Ryk Oakley

Press Clips:

Baby Sue (#17 Summer 1994, Stephen Fievel)
"Absolutely stellar, shimmering, perfect pop music. Those folks at Quixotic have a better roster of bands than just about anyone around. Airlines are a totally unpretentious rock band with a rather minimal sound and real talent in the studio. The guitar work on this disc would make any mother proud. Add to that overwhelmingly incredible tunes and you've got a top-notch band to knock 'em all dead. These melodies are just TOO good!"

CMJ New Music Report
(#381 May 23, 1994, Steve McGuirl)
"New York City's Airlines have been around in ever-changing forms since the late `80s, recording singles for various small labels and sharing members with other New York area bands such as the Mad Scene, Speed the Plough, The Giant Mums, Lid and the Ex-Lion Tamers. Although Wire is a definite reference point throughout Airlines, the influence never becomes distracting; instead, what continually grabs the listener's attention is Airlines' impressive mastery of textured arrangements and three-guitar dynamics. Over throbbing basslines and the sparse, steady drumming of Tom Kelley, the guitars intricately weave clean, arpeggiated chords around simple, precise, sometimes nearly droning, melody lines. The overall effect of this calculated, cerebral approach recalls Television, or even the Velvets, without actually sounding like either band...tunes like 'Deja Vu', 'Interval' and '10,000 Days', among others, continue to impress even after repeated listenings."

The Big Takeover (#35 July 1994, Jack Rabid)
"Add Airlines to the list of promising New York bands (at last there is a small crop). Theirs is a sprightly minimalist pop, the occasional one-chord drone uplifted by loping bass, bopping snare hits, and caustic guitar lines that encircle that steady bass. The playing is crisp-former KRAUT producer RYK OAKLEY gives them a tight mix-and simple but effective ideas run all over spaces this economical quintet leaves. Like the late `70s Wire, to whom they might be compared (as well as all the U.S. West Coast pop minimalists they inspired, such as the Urinals/100 Flowers, Sleepers, Flyboys, later Middle Class), nothing is chunky, yet the sound has depth, and the post R.E.M./Libertines plucked guitars never fail to invigorate and take unexpected paths... Investigate."

Chairs Missing (#"Mannequin" August 1994, Scott Munroe)
"...their minimalist-pop sound is a definite breath of fresh air in an increasingly hard-rock music scene."

The Trouser Press Guide to '90s Rock
(1997, Ira Robbins)
"Something like a better-adjusted feelies with loosened wigs or Yo La Tengo on a coffee rush, New York's Airlines perforates its brisk, understated rhythm guitar pop with pure, sustained distortion leads. In "10,000 Days," the effect recalls Robert Fripp's evanescent sound paintings. Singer/Guitarist John Tanzer (ex-Ex Lion Tamers, the Wire cover band that toured with its idols in 1987), guitarist/singer Joe Arcidiancono and guitarist John Neilson all write, which provides a degree of stylistic diversity within the quintet's relatively narrow framework....Neilson's "Steady Goes" is gorgeous and intense, with a folky undercurrent; Arcidiancono's "Interval" bends the Feelies influence back to one of its sources--Television--and Tanzer's "No. 2" owes some of its herkyjerk rhythm to early Talking Heads.

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