Jun 2
Catfish Haven returns with their second full length LP from
the Secretly Canadian label, "Devastator". The
Chicago IL based trio offers up 13 tracks of
raw, melodic, rock and roll that is a perfect compliment to a cold mug
of beer.
While not offering anything that is sonically new or unique,
Catfish Haven deftly incorporates elements of Southern Rock, Garage-pop, and
Classic Rock that results in a fun, accessible, LP chock full of music that
deserves to be danced to. Pressed on a
120 gram piece of vinyl, this mostly studio recording is also packaged with a
free digital download of the entire album.
I found the vinyl pressing had a very quiet background and that the
studio tracks in particular possessed a forgiving soundstage that resulted in a
comfortable, engaging listen. The high
end was crisp and clean without sounding overly harsh, and the midrange and
vocals were clear and concise. I found
that the low end was controlled and pleasant, although on the one live track,
it was slightly muddied.
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May 11
Ahhhh...Flipper. About as far from the audiophile's dream as you can get, "Generic Flipper Album", recently reissued by Four Men With Beards, once sounded so atonal to me. Now it seems positively tuneful. This record actually help shift my tastes quite a bit back in the early 1980s, listening to noisy lo-fi music became much more palatable thanks largely to Flipper. What a great band name too- you just had to laugh when you told friends about them. I've heard Krist Novoselic plays bass for them now, aren't most of the original Flipper guys dead? The "Sex Bomb Baby" LP always seemed a bit "novelty" to me, whereas "Generic" seemed to be the real deal. I've heard that the reissue rights were stripped from the mighty Subterranean label (original issue) when a written contract with the band couldn't be produced (kinda like The Butthole Surfers- Touch & Go saga), and "Generic" ended up on Johnann Kugelberg's (& Henry Rollins) Infinite Zero imprint for about ten minutes before the major label funding was pulled from that experiment (always kinda wondered what would have happened with Infinite Zero if the cash continued to flow). The Target Video footage of early Flipper always is a treat to watch, I wish I would have seen them in Minneapolis when they played the 7th St Entry in 1983. Fang & Flipper- the Bay Area's first offerings of post-Hardcore-whatsis. Besides the noise there was lots of punk bravado attitude lyrically, best line I remember is "Ever look at a flower and hate it?".
Apr 28
If you're lucky like me, you've had copies of Big Star's first two LPs, "Radio City" & "#1 Record", on wax for many years- I got mine in the early 80s from the used record bins around St Paul or Minneapolis (probably from Oar Folkjokeopus). I probably paid more than the normal two bucks, cuz these were hard to find by then- original release dates were from the early 1970s. There were German pressings on Line Records that were available & gone again in the mid-1980s, but since then, all I ever saw around town were bootlegs- and I saw a lot of them floating around. Reason is- these are both FANTASTIC LPs, and since neither had been in print vinyl-wise since their release, demand far outstripped supply. Word has it that both LPs were only officially available for months before they were dumped into the bargain bins as cutouts, all this happening way before listeners realized they were something desirable. A typical case of being "before their time", most power pop of the late 1970s owes a great debt to Big Star. A bootleggers dream, really.
UNTIL NOW. Miraculously, both LPs are now legitimately reissued, more than thirty-five years since they went out of print.You gotta wonder what took 'em so long?
Apr 7
If the instrumentation & arrangements were recorded to be a true audiophile's dream, then the voice should convince you: Antony & The Johnsons "The Crying Light" is the best sounding indie Rock record I have ever heard. This LP, released today, is an absolutely essential new recording. Never have I heard such a pure sense of expression vocally in all of Alternative-Rock-dom. This might be not only Antony & The Johnson's record to top (perhaps he will do so in the future, i hope!), but artistically could be label Secretly Canadian's most fully realized work of art. Pure talent this striking comes along rarely, this is easily a record you need to go buy, set aside some time, and truly absorb. A high acchievement- beautiful.
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