skip to main |
skip to sidebar
(Boom-Boom, 2005)
Scummy surf-style "party platter" recorded in the lowest possibly fidelity. Musically-regressive drunks make good with short, beer-soaked instrumentals and thought-provoking vocal numbers like "Belly Shakin' Baby." Gimmicky spider-suit band photos and laff-a-minute liner notes ice the cake. There's not much more to say... it's mindless frat-fun; perfecto.
Monster-movie and pre-Beatle obsessives Boom-Boom Records has released a whole buncha records along these lines, and they're all worth getting your mitts on, especially the girl-group Sultanas disc. But here's a very special warning: the wise buyer might want to go through a distro, cuz the label has a bad habit of let's say dragging its feet on getting things to you, the paying customer.
(Hidden Agenda, 1998)
Holy Moses, this is the one to own. One of my all-time favorite singles. Shimmering blasts of treated guitar, androgynous vocals, crisp drums; a more towering, rapturous sound than what came out of most shoegazer groups, and certainly as good as anything emerging from the genre on either end of the ocean. Better than most, in fact... Moose's "Suzanne" is one of the few that even exists in the same ballpark, and even that is grittier and less glorious than what we have here. Just a rich, rich sound on both sides. Bafflingly, "That Familiar Look to You" has been living in the clearance bins, online and in the real world, for years. Please explain.
(Gern Blandsten, 1997)
Say, here's a band that deserves a lot more appreciation than it got or gets. Jersey Joes with a snappy mix of Isn't Anything-era My Bloody Valentine (guitars, lead vocals, tempo shifts) and Stereolab (synths, "bum-bumpa-bum"-style backing vocals), no one's gonna give ANL&LF a gold star for originality, but they assembled those pieces into something dense, interesting, and usually exciting. Conveniently for my credibility, the perfect example is etched into this very single: the A-side presents robust wall-of-gtr muscle straight outta 1990, with post-shoegaze start/stop and regular turn-on-a-dime detours into bubbly 'Lab-land. Can't imagine anyone pulling the combo off any better than it's done right here. Flip it over for the dreamier, but still heavy, "Repetitive Monotonous"; the verses and their unintelligible cooing are hypnotic, and every time those ten-ton guitars come crashing in... MAN! Nice record, fellas!
Gern Blandsten later compiled this 45, along with the "Catcher" and "That Familiar Look to You" singles plus a few other odds 'n' ends, on the handy Straight Blue Line album. Two more full-lengths hang their headwear on similar sonic hat-racks and are also worth locating, so GET READY TO SPEND SPEND SPEND. Are you ready? You are? Great! Well, that's all outta me. Good night, America!
No, wait! I should mention that most (all?) members ended up in the less-amazing Jett Brando after ANL&LF fizzled. Good night, America!
(Slumberland, 2001)
Aislers Set does everything right on here and the ever-consistent Slumberland Records wins again. “The Red Door” is hard-charging fuzzpop, more coy than fey, and clearly descended from the bloodline of Slumberland Adam-&-Eves the Black Tambourine. Feedback bursts in the guitar solo make this about as white-hot as such things get. The band’s rough ‘n’ raw live recording of “Warm Girls” is a fine pit stop on the way to “Summer’s Reprise,” a lush, beautifully-arranged pop song flaunting all the catchy features the cardigan-wearing, bobbed-hair-having crowd could possibly want. Burbling organ? Yep. “Ah-ah-ah” backing vox? You gots it. Sunny strummin’? Sure! Some tasteful trumpet in the choruses swerves us nearer Belle & Sebastian territory, but a tougher backbeat throughout establishes this as its own thing. A steal at $3.50 from the label.
(Electric Human Project, 2005)"Catneck" starts with a lengthy stretch of electric hum, and just when you're thinkin' "I done been HAD!," the squealing, plodding, BLAM... BLAM... BLAM avant-heaviness comes down for a few minutes. Not as balls-out or recognizably "rock" as other Air Conditioning material, I'll betcha this could be passed off as a Wolf Eyes electro jam and fool most. The B is much more satisfying, the kind of frantic, nutso vomit that AC does best: smothering instrumental noise and animal screaming that's enhanced by lousy recording techniques which leave no space anywhere in the sound. It's relentless, and more than makes up for the forgettable A-side. Dudes are managing to wring new life out of the standard three-piece rock setup. Violently.
Art lovers should take note: The label thoughtfully pressed "Catneck" on a hideous picture disc that gives the actual music a run for its money in the ugliness sweepstakes. Display with pride in the home or office.
(White Denim, 2005)
Saw Air Conditioning at No Fun Fest '07, and it was the real deal. An auxiliary member -- a powertool-wielding machinist -- went to work on a mic'd piece of sheet metal, which, in a nifty two-fer, complimented AC's sound perfectly while setting off the burglar alarms in buildings across the street. This nasty little 7" was recorded by the core gtr/bass/drums three-piece live at No Fun in 2004, and is out and about in a teensy pressing of 200; hi there, eBay! Once the pre-show prep and blather finally wraps up (highlight: "Matt had to piss on the ride here and he pissed all over a fucking deer head and he didn't care."), the group kicks into some brutal, bass-y clatter that, being live live live, represents da boyz' THING better than most of what's on the slightly (SLIGHTLY) tamer full-lengths. Complete tape-saturation noize and machine-shop drumming; totally punishing satisfaction, so it's too bad half the record's over by the time things actually get started music-wise. Ah well; I guess that's part of the joke. As is the fact that both sides contain the same audio. So the joke's on ME, right?? Oof!
(No Idea, 2002)
Relatively ambitious and expansive stuff from Floridian punkers who ended up on the majors a few years later. For better or worse, these guys seem to have been tagged as Clash-like flag-wavers, the thinking/working band for the thinking/working man. That can be an uncomfortable, suffocating ghetto, one that attracts particularly pissy fans ready to shriek "sellout" at every move, but this single at least shows the group willing to goof a little in the song titles ("Tonight We're Gonna Give it 35%") while staying on message and keeping it heartfelt 'n' earnest in the vocal department. There's a pleasing range of styles on parade: The shout-along A-side's horns and backing vocals are a nice surprise, "...35%" does the quiet/loud/louder thing, and "Beginning in an Ending" is just acoustic guitar + howl. The modest, fistpump tempos on all three songs lend an anthemic feel to the proceedings, and there's the faintest whiff of classic-rock sensibilities in the arrangements. Scene's not my bag, but I'll definitely give credit for keeping me interested and on my toes.
(Boom-Boom, 2005)
