Opinion
Indieville.com - 01.02.2006
"Proggy, jammy relaxed rock is the name of the game here, as The Ebb and Flow combine intelligent pop with meandering instrumentation and a decent amount of experimentation. Even though the style of music isn't usually my cup of tea, I'm really enjoying this record - it's another addictive nugget from the increasingly impressive Three Ring label..."
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Best of Bay Area 2005
SF Chronicle - 12.27.2005
"While the rest of the world was stuck listening to the same old noise this year from the usual culprits like the Dave Matthews Band and Mariah Carey, we here in the Bay Area once again got to spoil our ears by indulging in tunes that were truly innovative, genre bending and perfectly thrilling. Here, the 21 best local releases from the past year..."
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Overlooked in '05
Houston Press - 12.08.2005
"Ten great discs that were underserved by the media but are more than worthy 1. Altamont 2. Rusty Anderson 3. Buttercup 4. Vic Chesnutt 5. Daddy 6. The Ebb and Flow, Time to Echolocate (Three Ring Records): At first I was tempted to compare this San Francisco-area band to Bongwater and Thinking Fellers Union, but it's a little more accessible than either of those antecedents..."
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CD Review
Lost at Sea.com - 12.01.2005
"The Ebb and Flow is a retro futuristic trio that glues together the geniuses of a Russian Jew, an Iranian native and a Midwestern girl. On this record they sound like a Siamese experiment that caught everyone in the lab off guard. Their aim consists in recycling good old synthesizers with upfront electronic twists and moves, delivering a sweet aroma that blinks an eye to the swell sound of the 80s while still harassing last week’s disco-goers..."
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CD Review
Copacetic Zine - 10.05.2005
" San Francisco trio The Ebb And Flow combine post-rock, Krautrock, and prog-pop elements in an interesting and engaging way on this debut album. The songs are built on an instrumental framework of drums, guitar or bass, and vintage keys like Farfisa and Moog. A couple of the tracks utilize additional instrumentation like cello and Herb Alpert-esque trumpet to good effect..."
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CD Review: A+
Girlfriends Magazine - 10.01.2005
"From the first notes of Time to Echolocate, you can tell there’s something special happening on this eight track album. The instrumentation is complex and eclectic, perfectly complementing the female vocals of Roshy Kheshti and male vocals of Sam Tsitrin. Sprawling tracks build, move, sustain, and dismantle in an extraordinary way..."
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Now Hear This
Denver Westword - 08.18.2005
"Bands are like bats. They make noise, let it bounce back at them, and then use these reverberations to form a picture of their environment and their own place in it. Take, for instance the Ebb and Flow -- drummer Sara Cassetti, guitarist Sam Tsitrin and keyboardist Roshy Kheshti -- who triangulate a space between them that teems with dim shapes and spectral silhouettes..."
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Cd Review
Salt Lake City Weekly - 08.18.2005
"Tickets to the Moog-synth symphony are now available. Pick them up at a bar near you. Be sure to mention the words Ebb & Flow. Let the doorman know these three musicians live in San Francisco, listento Neil Young, Nico and most post-rock or jazz bands circa 1971. Try to approximate the lead siren's angelic voice (alternating with an unusual male call), but stop if it sounds anything less than disarming..."
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Ebb and Flow conjures up '60s images
Des Moines Juice - 08.13.2005
"It’s pretty much impossible to think of San Francisco without conjuring up images of ’60s anti-war rallies and the thousands of hippies that gathered on Haight Street as a de facto base for the movement. The music that came out of the movement was the drug- induced euphoria of psychedelic rock..."
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Critic's Choice
Chicago Reader - 08.12.2005
"On their new debut LP, Time to Echolocate (Three Ring Records), these San Franciscans traipse along the fine line between whimsical and cutesy—but despite the ambling tempos, the warbling analog keyboards, and a couple lyrics about bats, they hardly ever put a foot down on the wrong side. The disc kicks off with a shuffling reggae lick on Farfisa that’s joined by chirpy pop guitars, faux-orchestral strings, and oboelike female vocals; the rest of the songs are sensual quilts of indie pop, indie rock, and hippie-tonk, stitched up tight with nimble, jazzy drumming and adorned with horns, xylophone, stately church chimes, and some barely angular guitar action that’s so far over to the disco end of postpunk it’s almost lounge..."
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At The Clubs
The Boston Phoenix - 08.08.2005
"An Iranian, a New Yorker, and a Russian Jew walk into a recording studio. The engineer says, "Why the long songs?" No, it’s not a non-joke joke; it’s what we like to think went down last year when Bay Area trio the Ebb and Flow entered the studio with Aaron Prellwitz (Neil Young, Erase Errata) to record their first full-length..."
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Concert Pick
The Village Voice - 08.05.2005
"The bat on the cover of this organ-blippy and gal-led Frisco post-punk art-pop trio's new Time to Echolocate would seem more clever if the Fruit Bats hadn't already had the same idea on Echolocation a few years ago. Sometimes the vocal chirps slightly recall Kleenex/Lilliput; sometimes the guitars get druggy. One track lasts 22 minutes. "


Critic's Pick
Nashville Scene - 07.28.2005
""Sonorous" is the name of the 10-minute leadoff track on this Bay Area trio's new LP. That title fairly captures the album's entrancing subtleties, especially the reverberant, melodic burr of keyboardist Roshy Kheshti's surging Farfisa chords and Moog sustains. An ominous undercurrent, however, courses through the rumbling, spongy pulse of bassist Sam Tsitrin, a presentiment of danger that's underscored by his jagged, fuzz-toned guitar lines—and by imagery of shrapnel, bonfires and wayside encampments in tracks like "Firefly," an impressionistic yet none-too-fanciful evocation of love in a war zone..."
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Show Preview
Albequerque Alibi - 07.21.2005
"The Ebb and Flow with FOMA and Babelshack Tuesday, July 26; Burt's Tiki Lounge (21 and over): When I first heard San Francisco's The Ebb and Flow I thought, now here is a band that travels well. As in, I'd like to take this album on a long car trip, possibly at night, through the Arizona desert. Maybe it's because their first full-length album is called Time to Echolocate and depicts bats in flight on the front cover..."
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Cd review
Aquarius Records - 07.01.2005
"Wow! Some sorta transformation has taken place with this band in the couple of years since their last release, the 2003 Mur Murs ep. They're definitely much more confident, complex and dynamic, and these developments are made more than apparent right from the get-go. Indeed, you need look/hear no further that the excellent lead-off track "Sonorous", but of course with such tantalizing edgy pop sounds you'll want to! It's a lengthy number (subsectioned into "Time To Echolocate" and "Ear Of The Other") that effectively presents the many facets of the band..."
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Cd Review
Smother.net - 07.01.2005
"The Ebb and Flow have launched their first full-length album entitled “Time to Echolocate” and are poised to turn more than just heads. Starting your album off with a two-part, ten-minute opus is dangerous and yet courageous but only if you can pull it off right. The Ebb and Flow nail it. Their sound is a mixture of ‘70’s era rock, post-rock, and synth-pop, which while challenging, is a simple delightful listen..."
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All The Little Indie Rockers / Kimberly Chun
SF Bay Guardian - 06.08.2005
"Indie rock that really rocks - that could be some kind of marketing slogan for the Ebb and Flow, who like to follow cello with psych freak-out on their new album, "Time to Echolocate." It's driving you batty, but admit it: You like it. You really, really like it."


CD Review / Maveric Vu
The California Aggie - 06.01.2005
"Rating: A- Every once in a while, I come across a fantastic band that I choose to keep a secret. So when prompted to explain my new favorite band, I can snootily reply, “Oh, you don’t know?” However, I’ve decided that I will share my recent find in hopes of becoming a better person. Thus, I introduce to you experimental art-rockers The Ebb and Flow, who create a dynamic experience that true music fans should not miss. The San Francisco-based trio melds a smooth blend of ’70s prog-rock, synth-pop and folk into a quirky and unique sound..."
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Cd Review / Connie Hwong
West Coast Performer - 06.01.2005
"Perhaps the Ebb and Flow would have been more comfortable in the early 70s, during the heady days of prog-rock in the US and Britain. How surprising it is, then, that two of the trios members were born and raised far from Anglophone soil: guitarist/vocalist Sam Tsitrin hails from Soviet Russia, and keyboardist/vocalist Roshy Kheshti once called Iran home..."
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Cd Review / Joel Doss
The Owl Mag - 05.09.2005
"The Ebb and Flow sports two vocalists, indie-rock inclinations and a variety of instrumentation that's as wide as their collective Iranian, Russian and American heritages. Time to Echolocate is a complex arrangement that sprawls around syncopated avant garde explorations, but manages to remain anchored in a listenable groove. Keyboardist Roshy Kheshti's synthesized arsenal of sonic flavor lays out everything from classic jazz progressions to niche experimentation, all the while meshing seamlessly with guitarist Sam Tistrin's eccentric hooks..."
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Show Preview
Flavorpill - 01.18.2005
"Sometimes it's hard to predict the next full-on musical trend, but the Ebb and Flow's much loved multiple personalities give them as much of a shot at being part of the next big scene as anyone. Progressively synthetic and eerily melodic, this local trio loves its Moogs, Farfisa, and horns equally, quickly shifting from post-rock jazz grooves to rainy-day soul..."
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Band Interview / Jeremy Sampson
SF Station - 05.01.2004
"SF Station is debuting a new Q&A feature profiling local musicians. The idea is to provide our readers with an introduction to rising Bay Area artists, as well a greater sense for what life is like in the trenches of our city's dense music scene. First up: The Ebb and Flow. It's fitting that our first Q&A features a band whose name means back and forth: The Ebb and Flow..."
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Show Preview
Flavorpill - 02.17.2004
"Each member of the Ebb and Flow strikes an intriguing figure on stage: frontman Sam Tsitrin does double-time on guitar and vocals, drummer Sara Cassetti drives the rhythm section, and Roshy Kheshti commands an impressive array of Moog keyboards and synths. Together the three create their own cohesive, yet musically diverse, take on indie rock..."
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Cd Review
Aquarius Records - 07.01.2003
"A short six-song introduction to this new SF band. This half dozen has a definite Chicago jazzy post-rock feel with some great horn accents, interesting textural details and arrangements. There's a nice vocal contrast from song to song too: breathy yet strong female leads on one, yearning, slouchy male voice takes over on another, a very Exene/John Doe-ish interplay on yet another..."
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Show Preview
Nitewise - 10.15.2002
"The Ebb & Flow project a definite Chicago jazzy post-rock feel with some great horn accents, interesting textural details and arrangements. There's a nice vocal contrast from song to song too: breathy yet strong female leads one, to a male voice that takes over on another. Formed a little over a year and a half ago, they have quickly become a band with its identity in place with a complex sound that is surprisingly palatable. "