PALO VERDE

“If you like dark, pared-down, and unapologetic un-catchy music check out Palo Verde, a two-piece powerhouse of a band. Lauren K’s smashing drums and Terrica Kleinknecht distorted guitar are like a metal show that could fit in your living room. Don’t expect some pop song that will be stuck in your head. Their songs grow slowly and organically, turning into a swirling growl of psychedelic guitar and mesmerizing drumming. Streaming their songs online just barely do justice to their sound, and if you get the chance to see them live you’ll be treated to some of the most intense drumming of your life. (Don’t forget to bring your anti-face melting serum).”
—BITCH MAGAZINE

“Local female duo Palo Verde is just making it up as it goes along—literally. These chicks improvise heavy, psychedelic jams, building a wall of thundering drums and sludgy guitars, only to bring it crashing down in waves of noise and long-suffering cymbals. The band’s recorded work has received plenty of praise, but this is the kind of thing you really need to see and experience live. And possibly with some good-quality earplugs.”
—PORTLAND MERCURY

“…Sure to be a show highlight are wildly inventive sludge-rockers Palo Verde. Words don’t do the band justice—their fully improvised sets combine the hesher energy of Judas Priest with the drum-centric technical artistry of Mr. Elf. It’s primal, cathartic and as blasphemously fun as a Black Mass…”

“Local improv-metal duo Palo Verde exact sludgy guitar riffs and spot-on progressive heaviness with a tight musicality that belies the very nature of improvisation…”
—JUST OUT

“100 percent rock, 100 percent improv, 100 percent female. Experts in experimental distortion and cohesion, believers in cautionary audience participation and diehard lovers of rock ’n’ roll, Palo Verde delivers an unparalleled performance of sweat, grime and explosive energy. When the members of Palo Verde describe themselves as an improv duo, they use the word religiously. All of their live performances and recordings are jams that come to life in that moment—without any preconceived structure or format—never to be repeated again. Many musicians have tried, or at least toyed with, the fulfillment of this idea, but none seem to pull it off quite as well as this drum and guitar duo…”
—PORTLAND DAILY VANGUARD

“…You know you’re in for a good show when the drummer blows her nose in her tee shirt and slams a Red Bull before the first song. (Palo Verde) launched into their tunes, each set improvised on the spot. “We try to get some nice textures,” Newman laughed from underneath her mop of black matted hair. The group’s violent, chugging riffs moved from math rock to deep grooves, often alternating into call and response snare hits. Kleinknect’s guitar work acts as a sonic floor for Newman’s out of control, drums-as-lead-instrument attack, beating on her kit with the blunt, bottom end of her drumsticks. The ladies only performed 3 songs, but each one felt like a work out, and the bloody and bruised crowd cheered as they finished, satisfied and maybe even a little relieved…”
—PHOENIX NEW TIMES

“Palo Verde’s improvised songs (are) chugging, dark, low blasts of Sabbath-esque post-rock delivered in concert with an unflinching intensity.”
—WILLAMETTE WEEK

“…(Palo Verde) do…improv, proggy, stoner rock. Newman’s drumming is front and center, while Kleinknecht locks into her groove with thick riffs, discordant angularity and the seeming ability to read her partner’s mind when it comes to changes…If you didn’t know…(Palo Verde) was an improv duo going into a show, you still
might not know it when you leave. That’s how tight they are…”
—TUCSON WEEKLY

“…(Palo Verde’s) telepathically improvised slabs of sludge-metal riffing are brutal punishment of the very best kind…”
—PORTLAND MERCURY

“A lot of people probably don’t realize…(Palo Verde) is all improv…Newman’s drumming is…perfectly in synch with guitarist Kleinknecht…Newman implements intricate patterns in her lightning-quick, tom-heavy drumming that seem as though they have to have been planned as they intersect with the peaks of Kleinknecht’s mid-range prog. This duo has all the dynamism of bands that spend months on their songs and spontaneity…”
—WILLAMETTE WEEK

“(Palo Verde’s) Zero Hour, is a lengthy and super-sludgy instrumental LP that propagates a level of amplified muck worthy of The Melvins while also providing meditative slabs of psychedelia.  Repetitious and prone to areas of free form musical assault, at times Zero Hour reminds me of the more abrasive aspects of Black Flag’s The Process Of Weeding Out and combines them with Earth’s recent Americana-laced desert rock.  There’s less jazz to it than there is No Wave, “pigfuck” or drone metal, but improvisation is at its core.”
—LETTERS FROM A TAPEHEAD