PRESS REVIEWS

Review of 12-2-2005 show @ The Loft (Atlanta)
Creative Loafing
CREATIVE LOAFING
RedEye
Sound Ideas and Unsound Thoughts
By Tony Ware
Published December 7, 2005

In a recent study by the Schadenfreude Foundation of Swaziland it was found there are exactly two-and-a-half things funnier and yet sadder than watching a white male act out his "DJ" set from behind his laptop: monkeys riding tricycles and using the phrase "mad sauce" to convince Buppies to buy Taco Bell and midget porn. Not to toot my own horn, but I've sat through all two-and-a-half scenarios plus a Tijuana donkey show with nary a shiver. But as I watched producer Purefunk gesticulate at the Loft Fri., Dec. 2, as he pumped progressive breaks from his digital apparatus, I realized this must be the uncomfortable feeling one gets staring into Bea Arthur's vagina and realizing the abyss stares back.
Leaning against a column, I'm beaded with confusion like a Boy Scout with that deep woods beaver fever. Mostly because as much as I want to lambaste the scene like a schoolgirl's game of MASH (remember paper prism-flicking Mansion-Apartment-Shack-House?), I find it so genuine that it's immobilizing. As perhaps you've gleaned from how perpetually I harangue hipsters and the unfathomably chintzy Family Force 5, I have been under the impression there is a dearth of earnest behavior in Atlanta's music scene. Well, that impression got a crosscheck from a crackerjack conduit at this show, and I'm standing transfixed like a medieval relief of Knight Templar Sir Real as Cypher Cell joins Purefunk (who provides the technologically enhanced band with breakbeats) on the stage.

Cypher Cell is the latest project of Jimmy Cypher, a guitarist whose embrace of the infinite reverb marks him as a first-class architect of smudged funhouse mirrors. This is rock 'n' roll as a reflection in Tom Cruise's Ray-Ban sunglasses: It's meant to be personal yet bombastic. And as the rest of the band conducts the "full-power groove" of a hornet-powered locomotive, Cypher Cell puts the crowd on lockdown.

Emergenza Review: North American Finals (Atlanta)
www.emergenza.net
CYPHER CELL had the most unique sound of the night, mixing electronic drum tracks, with live beats that drove the energy level in their music to another place the other bands didn't reach. With morphing guitars sounds and great licks, Jimmy walked away with the Axis guitar from Ernie Ball for The 2nd Best Guitarist of the night. Great songs and a good singer, added to the already mentioned attributes, made them a blast to see.

Most Downloaded Audio: Sol de Maya
www.atlantalocalmusic.com
Most Downloaded Audio pick (April 2005)

Music Midtown 2004 -- Creative Loafing and Atlanta Journal-Constitution Picks
Creative Loafing/Atlanta Journal and Constitution
CREATIVE LOAFING:

JIMMY CYPHER -- A mind-melding warp of electronica and classic rock in one trippy carpet ride, dude. Guitar-whiz Cypher manages to blend world, rave and rock in a nutty prog-head salad that should delight and enlighten. Cypher amazingly unleashes a laid-back take on full-power groove. 6-6:45 p.m. (Smith)

-- Lee Valentine Smith
4-30-04

ATLANTA JOURNAL AND CONSTITUTION:

Beat Crazy guitarist bridges the gap between guitar rock and electronic dance.

4/29/04 page P23

"Critical Eye for Fest-Going Guy and Gal"

Need a little expert help deciding where to spend your time tonight? let our music critics walk you through their perfect night.

Nick Marino says:

6:00pm: ... hit beat crazy guitarist Jimmy Cypher early."

4/30/04 page B6

De-Cypher This

Tony Ware -- Creative Loafing (Atlanta)
De-Cypher this ...: If the Rapture (ye olde religious fervor) was to clot into a globular funnel, sweeping zealots heavenward from only one fortuitous place, nutters wouldn't be ill-advised to picket for the parking lot of a Pink Floyd concert. Once there, if time permits before some kind of Highlander-like "Quickening" rouses the crowd to pick up the red phone to St. Peter and shed their fragile mortal forms, a toke and a stroll across the steaming tarmac could reveal a lot about the cultural hybrid we have wrought. Or, they could jack into that conduit of cultural crossed wires by seeing ensemble Jimmy Cypher, as I did at the 10 High Sat., March 27.

Above a guitarist/efx tweaker/DJ's tribal triggers and a percussionist's tablas, and alongside a bassist's bulbous wobble, guitarist Jimmy conjures the infinite, wailing arena-ready reverb passed from David Gilmour to the Edge. This is an exercise on transcendence caught somewhere between Goa and the Mississippi Delta. Stylistically, logistically, Jimmy Cypher is like wandering a tailgate party -- navigating coolers and grills between the VW vans and SUVs -- because from every open window a different sound is injected into the smoky intoxicated air of coordinated abandonment. While many may not know exactly what to make of this heady melange, Cypher's certainly found something almost overwhelmingly indulgent by disregarding music's more common delineations: a bizarre bliss between the brown acid and hits of sunshine.

Creative Loafing (Atlanta, GA)
4-1-04, p79.

Feature Article: Interview with Vicki Carson
Playgrounds Magazine
This is an in-depth interview for the September, 2004 issue of Playgrounds magazine. It is available as a .pdf file in it's entirety at www.jimmycypher.com on the homepage.

Feature Article and Interview: Cypher puts Electric Guitar in the House
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
(9-24-04 Entertaiment "To Do"Section)

"Cypher puts electric guitar in the house"

by Brad Barnes

Pulse-pounding electronic beats and scorching electric guitar fretwork meld when the Jimmy Cypher Band takes the stage.

"When you come to a Jimmy Cypher show, you're definitely going to hear things you're not used to hearing, put together in ways you're not going to expect," says Cypher, whose band performs Saturday night at the SoHo Bar & Grill.

"I didn't want to do your typical guitar-bass-drums, 'watch how fast I can play,' " says Cypher, the alter-ego of Atlanta's James Blackstock . "Everyone's heard that to death, and most of it was done very bad.

"You had the Van Halens , the Steve Vais and the Eric Johnsons , and it's not far after that that it got really bad," he says.

The sound that's produced -- by a combination of guitar, synthesizer, acoustic drums and samples -- is less trancy than dance music and more foot-moving than hard rock. His influences are as widespread as axeman extraordinaire Joe Satriana and house music pioneer B.T.

Cypher prefers a crowd that will dance to one that holds a beer and watches from the sidelines.

"I would love to have one of those dance/rave type parties, or something along the lines of Carlos Santana's crowd, where everyone's having a good time and moving," he says.

But it's been a hard sell to many clubs.

"If you started putting guitars on the regular dance floor set, the dance floor would clear. Guitars scare off the dance scene," he says. "Old school rock fans hate electronic drums. Electronic fans hate guitars. We're trying to make them one big, happy family, and I got news for you: They don't want to go."

Some consolation for the rock 'n' rollers is the addition of live drummer Ron Vycital and a flesh-and-blood singer behind the mike in Sean Kennedy . Those two new members join the rest of the band that's performed here before: Cypher on guitar, Billy Bones on bass and multi-instrumentalist Keith Gilbertson manning everything from turntables to keyboards to guitars.

The band performs Saturday. Doors open at 9:30 p.m., and admission is $5. In Silence is also on the bill. The show is open to ages 21 and up only.

SoHo is at 5751 Milgen Road. Details: 568-3316 or http://sohobarandgrill.com.

Contact Brad Barnes -- who writes things you're not used to reading, put together in ways you're not going to expect -- at (706) 571-8524 or bbarnes@ledger-enquirer.com

Featured Artist (Electronica Home Page)
www.gigatracks.com
"Love And Darkness"
by Jimmy Cypher
Reviewed by: The Ruiner

Review:
All right, we've been slipping around here a little on the electronica scene. But we are going to start making it up. It's just that we don't want to put up any generic techno/trance stuff. It's got to be something that sounds new and fresh. Something to get the old ears perked up. And so we've got just thing thing to fit that bill for you. It's 'Love/Darkness' from Jimmy Cypher.
Start with the beat. It's definitely banging. Hard hitting bass and groove for days. It's got great synth melody lines and it's got little guitar lick with tons o' reverb for a great otherworldly sound. If this doesn't get the party going, then nothing will.

Jimmy Cypher is from Atlanta, GA. and their sound is akin to Crystal Method. That sort of 'Rocktronica' sound where it's obviously electronica, but it's definitely rock too.

So take a listen to 'Love/Darkness' and we promise that there will be more electronica of this caliber coming soon. And of course, if you've got any suggestions, we'd love to here 'em. Check out our contact page for info on how to reach us.

Link:
gigatracks.com/detail.php?type=review&id=49

5-5-04

Atlanta's Jimmy Cypher returns to SoHo Bar/Guitarist bag of Mix
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
06|11|2004

Atlanta's Jimmy Cypher Band returns to the SoHo Bar and Grill for an interesting show Saturday 10:00pm. Half cyber-punk and half metal axeman, Cypher lays down a pulsating electronic rhythm and then spreads melodic guitar riffs on top. It's music where you can equally hear the influences of Joe Satriani and Orbital . Cover's $5. Call 568-3316. --Columbus Ledger-Enquirer

Best Bets – Guitarist’s Bag of Mix

What with all the blending of music styles that's been going on of late, we're kind of surprised this hasn't happened before. Or maybe it has, and we're just not hip enough to have heard it. Jimmy Cypher, who performs Saturday at the SoHo Bar & Grille, melds electronic dance music with Steve Vai-esque guitar rock. He brings with him a band that includes a bassist, two percussionists and a turntable artist, in addition to his own guitar.”

--Brad Barnes
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
www.ledger-enquirer.com