Universal Eyes

Universal Eyes is a late-2010s reincarnation of seminal Michigan improvisational noise collective Universal Indians, merged with the related group Wolf Eyes. The quartet made their debut in 2018 with the spontaneously recorded Four Variations on 'Artificial Society'. Universal Indians were founded in Lansing, Michigan in 1993 by Gretchen Gonzales, John Olson, and Bryan Ramirez. The group progressed from psych/garage rock to much more outré avant rock influenced by free jazz, noise, and drone. After Ramirez was kicked out in 1997 due to lack of enthusiasm, Gonzales and Olson moved to Detroit, and Aaron Dilloway joined Universal Eyes, playing feedback-heavy guitar as well as frightening vocals distorted through reel-to-reel tapes. The group became more electronic and industrial-influenced, sharing sonic similarities with Nate Young's Wolf Eyes, which also featured Dilloway. Universal Indians stopped performing together around 2000, as Gonzales co-founded the garage rock group Slumber Party, and both Dilloway and Olson joined Wolf Eyes full-time. From there, Wolf Eyes became one of the most celebrated acts of the North American noise scene. The group ceaselessly toured and issued hundreds of recordings, either on their own labels or bigger ones like Sub Pop and Third Man, in addition to splintering off into countless side projects. Dilloway left Wolf Eyes in 2005, but he occasionally contributed to subsequent releases such as 2013's No Answer: Lower Floors. In 2018, Gonzales, Olson, Dilloway, and Young gathered together in a home studio, nearly two decades after the previous Universal Indians gig, and recorded a session with Warren Defever (His Name Is Alive), who mixed and mastered the recordings. Four Variations on 'Artificial Society' was then released a few weeks later in a limited edition of 100 records at the third annual Trip Metal Fest, where Universal Eyes performed along with the Art Ensemble of Chicago and Suicide's Martin Rev. Later in the year, the album was given a wider release by Wolf Eyes' Lower Floor imprint. ~ Paul Simpson