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LP
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DC 985LP
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"Prison's third big one, Big Rigs on the BQE, finds the jammers of legend far away -- miles from Downstate (2025) and Upstate (2023): driving further down the road, Prison's guitar, bass and drums compel them to dream LOUD. An improvised rock and roll tapestry, multiple impulses, intersections and lifelines rended with gas 'n guitar pedal on down to the metal. Reflecting real lives lived today, sprawled and recalled in undulating electroacoustic performance. On March 7th 2024, Prison vets Sarim Al-Rawi, Matt Lilly, and Paul Major on guitars and drums were joined by Mike Donovan on fuzz organ, percussionist Ryan Sawyer and Downstate's Matt Leibowitz (back on bass, and synth too this time) at a Sunset Park studio where they could see the fucking highway from the studio windows. It kind of set the tone. Downstate guitarist Adam Reich switched it up too; as studio honcho/engineer/mixer, he scored a couple FX/remix passages that are of the performance on both sides. Big Rigs on the BQE is the sound of Sarim, Matt, Paul, Mike, Ryan, Matt and Adam in wicked battle and glorious play, a far-ranging scrum of Groundhogs/Velvets/Hampton's/Pink Fairies/Magic Band/ Good Rats/Can propositions powering guitars, bass, drums and organ (and synth!) that day: a beast, imagining a better allegory for qualities of the 'spirit of the jam/road trip' duality. Paul and Sarim's vocal shouts transmit a kind of road-thoughts as they come, circular processing loosely knotted loops in different ranges and a couple different levels! These are deep, searing, multipurpose jams. Big Rigs on the BQE is a kind of travelogue, two side-long trips that take flight and fight another day in the never-ending process. It's a beautiful opportunity to send new blasts of positive energy out to the world. Prison of one, freedom of many!"
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LP
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DC 911LP
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"Downstate, the second official Prison stint, stretches to insane new places while pumping out more of some of the toughest jams around. Leap-hogging from one vibe to the next, Prison cop a variety of grooves, from minimalist (like Guru Guru), sweat-shaking (Stooges) and chaotic (No Trend) -- it feels like they're coming from everywhere! They switched it up in almost every way they could this time. But that's just Prison being Prison. At its core, Prison's a multi-headed beast, and Downstate is built to showcase their swarming freakscene. Recording this one in Rockaway meant they could get Prison family and friends to drop in. Going Downstate with core Prisoners Sarim Al-Rawi, Matt Lilly, and Paul Major are guitarists Marc Razo and Adam Reich, bassist Matt Leibowitz, and Dave Smoota Smith on trombone. Also present is the late, lamented Sam Jayne, a fellow lifer whose spirit will act as a guide for the rest of Prison's time. With these many hands on deck, Prison plays all kinds of things, from insane distorted rock to dreamy psychedelia, plus some jazzy and gutsy blues shit too. They got some of the lighter side of Prison in there, of course. It was all recorded in a day, with a couple overdubs, but it took a while to get the mixes right. There were a lot of moments that they didn't know would lead to anything, but when listening back later, then they heard where they were going. All that had to get in there somehow. Another level to the sound on Downstate is in the hard cuts and savvy fades in the edit. Matt Lilly sequenced the mixes at home using two CDJs fed into a Numark DJ deck and dubbed down live to cassette, then they sent the tape to engineer Matt Walsh to duplicate timings and fades and all that. Like trapdoors taking you from where you thought you were standing to someplace entirely different, wondering if what just happened was ten seconds or one million years long. And if you still don't know -- man, it was both!"
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2LP
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DC 872LP
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"Straight outta Rockaway Beach, Queens, New York City, Prison is a state of mind, an experience, a loose collective, a band, a jam band and a bunch of psychedelic dudes who aren't your average bunch of jambanders. You get what you're dealing with here? No...you don't. The only way to REALLY get it is to go to Prison -- and if you're not from greater NYC and haven't showed at any of the shows, here's your best bet: their breakout album, Upstate. And what a breakout! So high, you can't get under it; so wide, you can't get over it! How wide? Every song has two titles, that's how wide. And almost everybody sings, like, all the time. That wide. Sure, you can break down the numbers -- five guys, five songs and four sides of vinyl in one gatefold sleeve -- but that won't get you Upstate, either. Prison is the sound of everybody in the room figuring out where to go, individually and collectively. As they go through it, the meaning changes, the destination changes, the words mean something different. It's meaning and no meaning, rising and falling, sinking and flying on the back of something massive cacophonized by three guitars, four vocals, a bass and drums. A lot of information bouncing around and enough time to really get you out of yourself! Take a look at the titles: each one a dichotomous inquest that the assembled Prison-ers march upon with fervor, glee, vengeance -- a whole spectrum of feels and perspectives woven into the jam for you to see. This'll take you places! The Prison population changes with the seasons, and during the season this album was recorded, Sarim Al-Rawi, Mike Fellows, Sam Jayne, Matt Lilly and Paul Major were in Prison. Sarim you might know from Liquor Store; Mike's made a bunch of scenes and records as Mighty Flashlight; Sam, who passed away in 2020 (R.I.P., brother) was in Love as Laughter -- and Paul Major you know from Endless Boogie, and despite being 'just a skateboarder who loves music' with no previous experience on the drums, he and Sarim inaugurated the Prison experience, like, seven years ago. Since then, it just fell together and it keeps doing so. A free thing called Prison. Just go for it! Follow the signs, listen up, have fun. That's how Prison got Upstate."
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