A Nose for Noise: One to watch
"Photonic's music has nothing to do with much of the other music out there today...a set of tracks that is both forward leaning and backward looking. It’s also totally unclassifiable...resolutely lo-fi, which constitutes a sizeable chunk of this album’s charm. Photonic is one of those bands that mix a bunch of my favourite styles in magical ways, but what an unexpected mix this is. It’s impossible to know where to place this within the modern skewed-spectrum of *cores. Craig describes Photonic as “a rock metal power-chord psychedelic beats party” and appears unable or unwilling to classify the band himself – indeed there is no-one else out there is recording music like this, at least to my knowledge. I implore you, give Photonic some of your money and time (check out most of the album on their myspace). This seedling needs watering, as the world will be a duller place without it."Read the full review
UK Metal Underground
"A glorious cascade of trippy swirls...the style of the music is something I haven't particularly encountered anywhere before. Truly mature compositions, with an eye for brilliantly timed psychedelia, not overdoing it at any stage... So many good riffs and sections it would be silly to point out any highlights as it really is all so fucking good. Brilliantly experimental and interesting, this project is one of the absolute ELITE out of the unsigned acts we have come across here so far. Fucking breathtaking work!""Read the full review
Rip it Up
"The best local show I have been to recently was the PHOTONIC video release show at the Dog's Bollix a couple of weeks back, which had the band playing as the video (which happens to be for my favourite song) was projected onto them..."Rip it Up
NZ Musician
"...a passionate wall of sound guitar band that are genuinely talented. Photonic, a three-piece from Auckland, are evocative, moody, melodic and controlled. Claiming to be "not produced on earth" it certainly doesn't sound familiarly local (though the liner notes do point to Nick Abbott at Montage Recording Studio in Grey Lynn). Touches of Jakob, AC/DC via the US, with a UK indie bent is a starting point. Half of it is instrumental (they know when to shut up), and when the vocals are present they lift the whole vibe altogether... Other components include Fugazi and Slint, however Photonic supersede any of their influences. This self-funded effort is excellent..."Album review in NZ Musician
Real Groove
"...Photonic are the better band, playing a genre surfing blend of punk and more experimental flourishes...the booming, fluid music has an endearing unpredictability to it...there is definitely something behind that oddly innocuous name, which is far more than can be said of most."Real Groove
Pulp
"Photonic launch into a set of songs loud enough to blow your undies off and good enough to leave you wondering why some New Zealand bands are all over the radio and TV, while these guys aren't. The diversity of the songs makes it hard to describe what kind of band they are, but to hazard a title you might say sonic power rock, or heavy metal that isn't a cliche or too heavy for rock'n'rollers to listen to. Photonic are "tooooight" and a band that New Zealand needs to hear more from."Pulp Magazine