Bright Channel, Self-Propelled (Flight Approved). Like a tornado on the horizon, Bright Channel's latest is portentous and ominously exhilarating. Self-Propelled perfectly captures the bottomless whirlpools and soaring swells of sound that have made both the band's shows and its records endlessly awe-inspiring. Burningly ethereal apocalyptic rock for those unafraid to gaze into the abyss. -- Tom Murphy

From the Denver Post - Best of 2006: Music by John Wenzel, 12/23/06

#9 - "Self-Propelled," Bright Channel: Who could have imagined that not recording with Steve Albini was this Denver's trio's best move? The raw, face-melting distortion they wring from their guitars could only have been captured in their home studio in Denver. If you think unearthly pleasures don't exist in the local scene, think again.

"...Bright Channel developed a reputation for playing very loud as they learned to create a wall of decimating volume, in part to simulate the sound of two guitars. Their sound is a visceral wash of reverb-drenched distortion a la My Bloody Valentine. Suthers and Stein calculatedly utilize their extensive knowledge of guitar effects ... to create sonic soundscapes that are deeply complex and lush."

"One-upping Steve Albini ain't easy. The world-famous sound engineer has recorded everyone from the Pixies and Nirvana to his own legendary bands Big Black and Shellac. In 2004, he also recorded Bright Channel's eponymous debut at his Electrical Audio Studios in Chicago. The result, though, wasn't as stellar as it could have been. While the songs and performances were brilliant, there seemed to be too much of a cold distance between the disc and its listener that blunted the impact of its droning, skyward-fixated sound. The trio's sophomore effort, Self-Propelled, is a vast improvement, at once heavier, breathier, more celestial and more intimate than its predecessor. And the kicker? Singer/guitarist Jeff Suthers produced the whole thing in his basement studio, Flight Approved. Let's hear it for do-it-yourself."

"Self-Propelled, Bright Channel's new, home-recorded full-length, not only outshines the group's Steve Albini-produced debut, but it will induce the heaviest hallucinations and peripheral phantasmagoria since Joy Division, Scratch Acid and Mogwai dropped peyote and composed a century-long opera based on the rise and fall of the Soviet space program. Bright Channel is charting new cartographies that blur and then obliterate borders between shoegazer, stoner rock and the realms of perception and death itself."

"With peripheral visions of Ian McCulloch’s vocals and Swervedriver’s guitar lines in the sand, Self-Propelled is Bright Channel’s proclamation of evolution, both in music and in their own band’s progression. It’s the hallucinogenic trip without the legalities and side affects, the hot sex without the need for cuddling or call the next day, it’s everything we’ve known and loved about his band from Denver rolled and stuffed into a rocket and shot in the sky."

From The Onion, September 2004: "Bright Channel's self-titled debut album is a work of murky majesty"

Westword Magazine, Best of Denver 2004: Best Live Band

"A lot of groups both lousy and laudable have made their presence felt this year, but none has seared its image onto this town's collective retina like Bright Channel. Formed from the remnants of the overlooked acts Volplane and Pteranodon, the trio coalesced in February 2001. Since then, it's been a force of noise and beauty, beguiling audiences with a sound that encompasses everything from My Bloody Valentine's bleary psychedelia to the ice-rimmed ghostliness of Joy Division. With swooping melodies, filmy textures and chiseled rhythms, the band's live performances feel less like rock shows than sonic sculptures. But be warned: Although Bright Channel is without a doubt one of the best bands in town, holding your breath for them to release a disc could be fatal."

Best of Denver 2003: Best Band That Sounds Like a Vacuum Cleaner

"Picking up influences from My Bloody Valentine and Swervedriver, Bright Channel plays the kind of music that was once called "shoegazer": melodic guitars buried under thick, swirling drones of digital effects and noise. Echoes swell and static rattles throughout every song, sounding for all the world like an orchestra of Hoover Uprights plugged into a wall of amplifiers. Underneath all the volume, though, are dark, elegant compositions on par with Joy Division or Sonic Youth. Bright Channel's music may sound like a vacuum cleaner, but it sure doesn't suck. "