DESCRIPTION:
Space Needle began in 1994 as the four-track project of Long Island-based Jud Ehrbar and Jeff Gatland, longtime friends
who began performing together while attending high school. After graduation, Ehrbar moved to Providence, Rhode Island,
where he attended school and played drums in Chick Graning's band Scarce; after creative differences prompted Ehrbar's
exit, he returned to Long Island and reunited with Gatland, where the duo founded Space Needle as a venue
for incorporating diverse influences ranging from experimental music and 1970s prog-rock to 1980s post-punk and hip hop.
After signing to the New York label Zero Hour, Space Needle debuted in 1995 with Voyager, a collection of fuzzy,
psychedelic compositions backed by primitive tape loops and experimental production techniques. Prior to 1997's
ambitious The Moray Eels Eat the Space Needle, guitarist Anders Parker -- the auteur behind Varnaline --
became a full-time member; Ehrbar also continued with his concurrent ambient project, Reservoir.
[Review by Jason Ankeny , All Music Guide]

Space Needle only recorded two albums and two singles during their brief lifetime, but in their own way the eventual
trio found its particular niche over time -- various attempts to ally them with '90s psych/drone aside, there's something
about them that feels more like forefathers to the next decade's big rock sound, along with groups like, say, the
Flaming Lips (that the band was self-produced rather than needing Dave Fridmann was even more striking).
Recordings 1994-1997, a simultaneous overview and catchall of various unheard tracks and earlier and alternate takes of
more familiar ones, provides a handy one-disc summation of what the group was about, even if the liner notes are perhaps
a little too starry-eyed at points. But the music is what matters, and from the rolling punch of "Eyes of the World" on
-- little surprise that the band started with drummer Judson Ehrbar, whose obsession with trying out many different
rhythm styles is clear throughout -- Recordings makes a pretty good case for a group that missed out on the brass ring.
A couple of songs here and there sound a little too much of their time -- not commercial grunge (thank heavens) but maybe
a bit too much like a slacker non-anthem -- but generally the core saving grace of Space Needle -- a sense of widescreen
ambition and dreaminess built out of sometimes rough sonics -- shines through.
A good example is the conclusion of "Before I Lose My Style," with its rising blend of keyboards and a truly
droned-out guitar, and the drifting but still focused harmonies on "Never Lonely Alone."
Meantime, the massive tremolo-and-fuzz overdrive of "Scientific Mapp" (and, in a less focused way, the random feedback
scrabble of "Where the Fuck's My Wallet?") keep things loud as heck.