UNNATURAL WAYS - PRESS

“The Paranoia Party tells the story of a confrontation with extraterrestrial life with all of the true musical mayhem it deserves — and that’s just on the surface level. Embedded in its cavorting song structures and sprawling scope, the very human feeling of dreading an existential threat makes itself and its complexity abundantly clear. The album’s finale “Cosmic Border Cop” feels terrifically on the nose in that regard. To say that borders occupy a significant place in current U.S. and global political discourse would be an understatement, and this album explores how their brutal enforcement affects the people on the other side. Crafting a work that operates on as many levels as The Paranoia Party is no small task, but Unnatural Ways founder and renowned guitarist Ava Mendoza proves more than ready.” -Captured Howls

“… it’s Brooklyn-via-Oakland six-stringer Ava Mendoza deconstructing of blues and punk into brutal shredfests that’s causing a ruckus in NYC’s DIY hubs. (Unnatural Ways) effortlessly bounce from the noisy din of Sonic Youth’s heavy space-rock jams, Black Flag’s prog-jazz instrumental freak-outs to the outlier twang damage of Fred Frith“ -Noisey.Vice

“Metallic overtones and soothing distortion held down by irresistible shifts in the backbeat and forefront riffing dissolve together in pure, noisy ear candy. Science fiction is once more a metaphorical escape from the oppression of the tyrannical governments and beliefs, dissolving into a car-crash dystopian end that leaves more questions than it answers; as the record’s opener, listeners can trust they’ll be drawn deep into the conceptual nightmare and rewarded greatly with the aural payoff of Mendoza and co.’s singular talents.”-Revolver

“the metal-jazz guitarist Ava Mendoza closed the night with her trio, Unnatural Ways, playing loose and charging originals that started with a drone of guitar effects and gently draped cymbal sounds, then lurched into slashing power chords. On “Alien Goo,” Ms. Mendoza sang in a soaring alto, stepping away from the mike occasionally to do some two-handed, corkscrew shredding toward the top of the guitar’s neck.” -NY Times

“Right from the gitgo, the trio erupted with an intense post-psych, power trio force. Ms. Mendoza played with a strong Fripp-like sustained tone, while the trio had a Massacre-like primal attack… This was an amazing set that many folks will be talking about for a long while especially as Ms. Mendoza’s star is till rising higher.” -Downtown Music Gallery on Unnatural Ways’ Victoriaville Festival 2014 set

“They display an uncanny connection throughout their triumphant recording, dynamically intertwined and unbelievably locked in with one another rhythmically (amazing, considering the malestroms provided by each at numerous times throughout the album). But let’s talk about gnarliness. My god, this is gnarly… this album fucking rules. Go buy it.” -Tiny Mix Tapes/Foxy Digitalis

“Like lurching freak-out cyclo-metal, Beefheartian free jazz and bent psych(opath)edelic guitar frenzy melded together into one sick rampage, nothing like it around at the moment but it’s scary, like Henry Cow and Butthole Surfers in some dark woods… there’s shades of weird dusty blues, Chris Corsano- esque mayhem, Stooges dirt and a right brooding atmosphere throughout, all this laced with real freewheeling lysergic mischief and played with the gleeful adventure of improvising spirits… a blast, it reeks of total loose-limbed, bloody minded conviction!” -NormanRecords

“…a heavy-rocking outfit that featured some gorgeously aggressive interplay between Mendoza and Dahl, Mendoza spitting out shards of notes that Dahl answered with thunderous aplomb.” -All About Jazz

“direct, dark and complex avant rock contaminated by other forms such as free improvisation, an urban and warped blues, neurotic punk shrapnel, a tense, nervous, powerful music… a fast-paced, elegantly wild stream of sound. A really great job honoring the musical technical skills of the musicians, don’t be fooled by an easy and approximate listening: the apparent harshness of their notes hides an elaborate and elegant musical journey, an excellent technique, and a remarkable creativity. Great band, great music.” -Neu Guitars

“… while there’s quite a lot of far-flung jazz chops converging all at once, the whole thing is clothed in a shroud of overdriven distortion and roomy fuzz. It’s hard to tell who’s kicking whose ass here, but my guess is that these two both walked away from the session bruised and battered in the best way possible. Love Taps? Nay — these are love wallops, Mendoza’s sharp harmonic angles and pummeling rhythm up against Tamburro’s storm of cymbals… Mendoza’s Weird Forest release was an example of how the guitar beat all odds to rule 2012 with extreme prejudice.” -Tiny Mix Tapes

“While most songs follow the familiar head-solo-head jazz structure, the album feels closer to a marriage of free jazz and metal. Every song features a heavy, glorious riff serving as a springboard for Mendoza’s dazzling guitar pyrotechnics. Tamburro’s drums provide much of the ecstatic energy, somehow propelling the songs forward without losing the beat and going completely free. The end result is a wild, exhilarating ride that’s sure to appeal to music fans of all stripes.” -Weird Forest

“Beneath all of the weird effects and improvisational benders, there’s a solid bedrock of technical skill. Mendoza’s not an entirely earthbound player… incendiary, mind-melting leads… Guitar geeks who want a dose of the weird stuff will find plenty to lap up across this album’s 36 minutes.” -Adam Strom, Dusted Magazine

“Their sound sculptures seem heavily labored over like a complicated detail painting or a score to a black-and-white film, with boatloads of dynamic shifts and tangents to hang the ear on… A poetic convergence of solo guitar and devil-daring drums?” -The Gumshoe Grove