Crystalized Movements were an American psychedelic rock/punk/folk band who recorded and performed sporadically from 1980-1993. The band was formed by guitarist Wayne Rogers and drummer Ed Boyden in Tolland, Connecticut when they were high school freshmen. Rogers and Boyden were brought together by a love of late 1970s No Wave music and 1960s psychedelia. After years of improvisational experimentation, they decided to make an LP in 1983 and recorded duo versions of some of Wayne's songs. They then split up upon graduating high school. Rogers, a longtime fan of the Plastic Cloud and Randy Holden, spent a summer piling on mountains of guitar overdubs. The resulting 'basement prog' album Mind Disaster, with Scott McLeod on vocals, was released at the end of that year in an edition of 130 (on Rogers' own record label, Twisted Village). After being discovered by record collectors, the album was reissued on Psycho in the UK in 1984.
Rogers put a full band together in 1985 before recording the next album: Dog... Tree... Satellite Seers, a scathing rebuke to "faux-lysergic posers". Guitarist Kate Biggar joined in 1988 upon Arn's departure (to southern California where he formed Primordial Undermind), cementing the band's final lineup on the next album This Wideness Comes.
The 1992 album Revelations From Pandemonium, on which Rogers and Biggar were joined by McLeod on bass and Teri Morris on drums, proved to be Crystalized Movements' finale. The album received a three-star review from The Chicago Tribune, with Peter Margasak describing the band as "at the brink of becoming unhinged and jumping into a great abyss of no-holds-barred psychedelia".
Following the demise of the band, the Rogers/Biggar duo, who had also recorded as Vermonster during their time in Crystalized Movements, have continued on in critically acclaimed groups such as B.O.R.B., Magic Hour (with Damon and Naomi of Galaxie 500) and the Major Stars, Rogers also releasing four solo albums in the 1990s. Rogers and Biggar married in the early 1990s.
Links to Peel[]
Peel seemed to have discovered the band in the late 80's and would play some of their material until 1990, where it seems he lost interest in the group. He also played a track from Rogers/Biggar side project, Vermonster in 1993. However, after Crystalized Movements demised and Rogers/Biggar joined Magic Hour, Peel played tracks from the new ensemble and also invited the band to do a session for his show.
Shows Played[]
CRYSTALIZED MOVEMENTS - TAKEN AWAY
- Crystalized Movements
- 26 April 1988: There No More (LP - Dog... Tree... Satellite Seers) Twisted Village
- 08 September 1990 (BFBS): 'Rearranged (LP-This Wideness Comes)' (No. 6)
- 11 September 1990: Rearranged (album - This Wideness Comes) No. 6
- 13 September 1990: Taken Away (LP - This Wideness Comes) No. 6
- 27 September 1990: Rearranged (LP - This Wideness Comes) No. 6
- 22 December 1990: 'Rearranged (LP-This Wideness Comes)' (No. 6)
- 03 January 1993 (BFBS): Slid (album - Revelations From Pandemonium) Twisted Village
- Vermonster
- 11 September 1993: 'If You Don't Come Back - Part One (2xLP-The Holy Sound Of American Pipe)' (Twisted Village)