BEST LOCAL RECORDINGS 2010
author: METROLAND MAGAZINE
“Tim Livingston’s quartet have pulled off a rare balancing act. The sociopolitical character of his songs are given such confidently forceful flight by the taut guitar-bass-drums that the music is not a backing track to broadsides, but its beating heart equal. It’s also a well-known fact that if you don’t have a good drummer you might as well stay home, and in Al Kash, the Last Conspirators have a great one.” - Metroland Magazine
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"Albany’s Last Conspirators have unleashed another shot across the bow of a too-
author: Chronogram Magazine
“Following up on their 2007 debut long player, Warparty, Albany’s Last Conspirators have unleashed another shot across the bow of a too-often-complacent rock soundscape. The songs evince an unshaken belief in the punk-rock ethic, starting with the all-in, soulful commitment of front man Tim Livingston’s vocals. Although the defiance of songs such as “History” and “Who Wants a Revolution Anyway” is present and correct, the music is anything but punk-by-numbers agitprop. The line-up of Livingston, bassist Jeff Sohn, guitarist Terry Plunkett, and drummer Al Kash is a vibrant testimonial of the Capital District’s close-knit but eclectic scene. The Conspirator’s sonic DNA is encoded with elements of glam, post-punk, psychedelia, and roots-rock. “Luther Hamilton’s Blues” struts forth on a bedrock rhythmic foundation, then layers on guitar fanfare that is by turns fractured and plangent before Livingston turns the lyric of a personal quest into a parable of a nation’s search to restore its collective mojo, underscored with Iggy-style primal howling. These recordings possess an immediacy that hints at the band’s infrequent but powerful live performances. Sure, the amps are cranked up really high, but the dynamic arrangements are the real payoff for the listener. “History” begins with anthemic guitar scrubbing, propelled by a hook-laden bass line before Plunkett launches the band to the stratosphere and back, pausing with Livingston cutting through the onslaught with an impassioned cry of “It’s too late for the future!” It’s never too late for music with this much craft and heart.” — Jeremy Schwartz Chronogram Magazine
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If you want to know where the real songwriters in punk are this day and age, loo
author: Big Takeover Magazine
"A five-song follow-up to Warparty, this equally potent recording hints these guys are not only are on to something good, they're just getting started. Fronted by Upstate NY punk legend, Tim Livingston (whose credits go back to Killed-By-Death style Albany punks, the Morons), the band fills the same sonic space as the Clash, Adverts, Ruts, Stiff Little Fingers and New Model Army. If you want to know where the real songwriters in punk are this day and age, look no further" - Big Takeover Magazine (Bryan Swirsky)
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"...if the New York Dolls played sixties psychedelic pop, this is what it would
author: Nippertown.com
Okay, it took me a while to listen to this entire CD because I had to play the first track, “Luther Hamilton Blues,” about ten times in a row. Yeah, it’s that good. A psychedelic tribal vamp evolves into a chanting punk verse before finally blossoming into a glorious pop chorus.
Frontman Tim Livingston excels at writing hook-laden, politically charged paeans to pop culture, and his commando team (crackerjack Nippertown music veterans Al Kash on drums, Terry Plunkett on guitar and Jeff Sohn on bass) play it rough and crunchy on the band’s powerhouse sophomore disc.
Other standouts include the Clash-like “Who Wants a Revolution Anyway?” and the ferocious, go-for-the-throat, garage-rock rumble of “History,” but there’s not a clunker in the bunch. “Long Live TV” (is this the third song Livingston has written about television?) evokes the ghost of Robert Hazard, while “It’s Late” is a tender and delicate ballad that stacks up the requisite dramatic refrains.
Produced by Chris Fisher at his Easter Island Studios in Coxsackie, this 5-song EP – the follow-up to band’s 2007 full-length debut “War Party” – gets pretty close to capturing the energy of their live shows, and if the New York Dolls played sixties psychedelic pop, this is what it would all sound like. Potent stuff." Nippertown
http://www.nippertown.com/2010/05/24/cd-the-last-conspirators-when-it-all-comes-down
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