Autoliner - Life On Mars

Artist: Autoliner Title: Life On Mars Catalog#: Parasol-CD-052 Price: $12.00 Also available on vinyl-LP for $8.00	Tracks on this CD:
	Undone
	Reversal (Lost Direction)
	Ambulance
	Beg
	If You Please
	Running Out Of Time
	Autoliner
	Do Anything
	The Arthur C. Clarke Blues
	Back to Zero
	Happy Summer Uber Alles
	Twelve-Thirty

Autoliner

Brian Leach-Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards
John Ross-Vocals, Bass Guitar
Tom Curless-Vocals, Drums, Percussion

It's hard enough to choose one band name. Messrs. Leach, Ross and Curless are on number three. You caught up with them on name number two when they thought Life On Mars was a good idea. Apparently a bunch of other folks felt the same. A new moniker, AUTOLINER, has been tested and cleared; just in time for a re-press of the CD, a vinyl LP pressing co-released in Japan by SYFT, and more live shows. The short version: Parasol Recording artist Life On Mars is now named Autoliner. The album title remains "Life On Mars."

From the Chicago Tribune (pre-name change)
By Allison Stewart

Friends since the third grade, Leach and Ross had been making home four-track recordings separately for years before forming Life On Mars as a side project. "We would meet once a week, have beer and play darts," Leach remembers. "Finally we decided, this is crazy, we should actually start doing something." They began writing songs, poached drummer Tom Curless from another band, and in short order started making what would become "Life On Mars," their poppy, immaculate debut, in their home studio.

"We went in thinking we were gonna make a fast, melodic pop record," says Leach. "But halfway through we started to think we were making 'Abbey Road.' We just kept throwing in strings and horns; we couldn't help ourselves."

Early reaction to "Life On Mars" has been positive; their single has been adopted by WXRT, and plans are being made for at least a brief tour. Leach and Ross, who have heard it all before, rmain guardedly optimistic. "In one way I've been through the mill and I know what can happen, so I'm trying not to get too, like, 'Woo Hoo!' about it," says Leach. "But WXRT started playing our single, and things seem to be moving really fast for us, and it's hard not to get excited. I sort of can't help it."

It's amazing that it's taken this long for Brian Leach and John Ross to join forces on a collaborative, commercially available recording. Friends since their pre-high school days near Chicago, they've both spent years, individually, making bedroom studio 4-track tapes for themselves and their friends. I personally have a drawer full to prove it. Leach's songs made it into the public domain through his leadership of Last Gentlemen (Zoo Entertainment) and Sugarbuzz (Parasol), while Ross self-released CDs with the Chicago-based bands Monica's Interval and Vivian Section. Leach even included two co-writes on his "The Sunrise Nearly Killed Me" solo CD from 1994, and one co-write on the first Sugarbuzz album. Maybe it took the introduction of drummer Tom Curless in Autoliner's formative stages of development to finally join Leach and Ross at the hip.

And the hip isn't the only place they're joined. The duo trade off lead vocals, and the trio partakes in spot-on three part harmonies, gossamer guitar crescendos, slinky keyboard melodies, and some sophisticated anthemic pop atmospheres, augmented with cello, violin, viola, and trumpet. Resurrecting some of Sweet's singalong 70s AM Radio magic, super-orchestrated 80s new wave (be it of British or American manufacture), the same era's penchant for sci-fi-power pop brilliance, and the merest hint of scooter-mod and paisley psychedelia. Autoliner's dirigible guitar-pop finds favor w/fans of Prefab Sprout, The Housemartins, and The Jam, but this rocks harder… And could cause head-spinning orgasmic seizures without warning.

"This set of a dozen effervescent and unforgettable power-pop tunes is a sterling accomplishment, and one of the best efforts of its kind in these parts since the heyday of Material Issue" -Jim DeRogatis Chicago Sun Times

"Is there anything as sweet as the hook of a three minute pop song? The refrain that you hum all day long, picks you up in the morning and puts you safely to bed at night. If that is your idea of a good time, then you are really going to dig this debut disc by (Autoliner). -Richard Milne WXRT 93.1 FM

"(Autoliner's) Life On Mars is like listening to a radio station that plays your favorite sounds from the 60's, 70's and 80's...amazing arrangements and dizzying variety in the song structures do create the sense of other worldly prodigies at work....If a particular riff or hook in any given song does not appeal, wait a couple bars and the next is sure to grab your attention."-Wendy Shea Amplifier Magazine

"(a) poppy immaculate debut.. -Alison Stewart Chicago Tribune

"(a) mind boggling, mind bending selection of power pop treasures...this is premier material" -Kevin Matthews The Power of Pop

"The band's unabashedly ambitious sound shines on it's new album, where the mix of prog and pop ultimately equals XTC." -The Onion

"Multilayered indie pop, (Autoliner) crafts clean-cut and refreshing melodies on this record, putting an emphasis on creating easygoing harmonies and ear candy...(Autoliner) cuts some interesting rhythms to hang its tunes from, giving its hooks a lot bigger reach and pull" -Aversion.com

"The band relies on chord progressions with clever modulations and unexpected twists, and hooks that come up and grab you when you aren't looking. And just when you think it's all about cheery melodies, the group rocks out like nobody's business, throwin' down harder 'n' faster, like the Jam on a caffeine bender...Nicely done." -Borders.com

"I like my pop. I like it lush and orchestrated and heavy on the backing vocals and guitar overdubs. So book me a ticket on the next mission to Mars, cause (Autoliner) do it just right. It's big, It's exuberant, it's not afraid to reveal its affection for the Alan Parsons Project and all things Bee Gees and Brian Wilson, especially as filtered through 80's new wave abandon." -Faster than Sheep

"The music...leaps from guitar jangle to horn flourishes to massed strings at will. "Reversal (Lost Direction)" careens from orchestral drama to slashing guitar rock to spinning neo-psychedelia like "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" mashed together and then compressed into three minutes." -The War Against Silence

"I can't believe how much I dig this! It's a freakin' Monkees record!" -Rocktober