Engine

I definitely like Slint but I have always wondered why they are a household name when other similar bands are not known. One problem this group of musicians (louisville) had was that they jumped around to different bands so often. On one hand, that is what is interesting about them -- they were in it for love of music and just wanted to play whatever they wanted so there are a lot of bands that released a couple obscure things and disbanded. On the other hand this results in less development of any particular direction. Dischord bands in DC also experienced this around the same time. Anyway, the point is that Slint seems to be just one of the many little experiments by the Louisville crew. Good band for sure, but why only them? I think it's mainly because word of mouth only goes so far.

Tortoise was a huge favorite of mine for a long time. I'd like to review at least 3 of their albums here.

Anyway, my Bitch Magnet review is coming soon and the next 3 will be the artsy side of the family:

The Serpentine Similar (1993) by Gastr Del Sol
When In Vanitas... (1994) by Brise-Glase
Yona-Kit (1994) by Yona Kit

Engine

Released by Communion Records

Track list:

1. Motor
2. Navajo Ace
3. Clay
4. Joan of Arc
5. Douglas Leader
6. Goat-Legged Country God
7. Big Pining
8. Joyless Street
9. Punch and Judy
10. Americruiser
*tracks 1-10 are the Umber LP
11. Carnation
12. C Word
13. Sea of Perls
14. Hatpins
15. Knucklehead
16. Circle K
17. Polio
18. Canteloupe
*tracks 11-18 are the Star Booty EP



Umber lineup:
Sooyuong Park – vocals, bass
John Fine – guitar
David Galt - guitar
Orestes Delatorre – drums



Star Booty lineup:
Sooyoung Park – vocals, bass
John Fine – guitar
Orestes Delatorre – drums

I firmly believe that if this band had not named themselves Bitch Magnet that they would have been far more than just a notch on the timeline of underground rock music from the late 80s/early 90s. But that’s what they are and their name will forever be more of a focal point (more like a passing glance point) than the music that they made. And that’s too bad because they made the most interesting, accessible music of all the early branches of the Squirrel Bait family tree.

Indeed, it is cheating a bit for me to include this album because not one of the musicians that played on it played in Squirrel Bait. However the connection is strong because our hero, David Grubbs, chose to join this band during the Bastro era. He was a bona-fide member of the band on their later releases and played with them on tour before ultimately staying with Bastro and moving on with them to form Gastr Del Sol (review coming soon!). So that’s why they get lumped in with Bastro and it’s why I went from Squirrel Bait straight to both Bastro and Bitch Magnet. The two bands were active simultaneously and were connected by Mr. Grubbs. Squirrel Bait is the roots of the tree and these two are the big, chunky trunk at the base.

Beyond that connection I will stop hyping Grubbs because he is not the star of the show. That is Sooyoung Park . He and the other two united while at Oberlin College and while there recorded their Star Booty EP which was engineered by Mr. Steve Albini. He’s quiet about it but I will always wonder what kind of influence Albini had on all of these bands. Like Bastro, Bitch Magnet has more than a slight resemblance to Albini’s own bands. Coincidence? Or was there a tangible connection between smart, casually-dressed punk rockers across America in the late-80s? I like to think so. But maybe it’s just that Big Black was so goddamn good. In any case, Bitch Magnet is Sooyoung Park’s baby and he nurtured it well.

I’ve talked about the likes of Big Black and Slint enough (too much) already. But in reference to these Bitch Magnet recordings, I am going to mention another band: Smashing Pumpkins. That’s right, these songs often remind me of Gish-era Smashing Pumpkins. It’s mainly in the melodic, anthemic, heavy guitar style of Jon Fine as well as the bluesy bass lines. I’m willing to bet that young Billy Corgan had at least one Bitch Magnet tape at some point.

They are the last 8 tracks on the combined release, but Star Booty came before Umber chronologically so I’ll begin there.

‘Carnation’ starts the EP on a controlled, energetic note – textbook post-hardcore with aggressive but melodic vocals and some spacey guitar noodling thrown in at the end. This leads directly into ‘C Word’ where Park shows off another side of his singing; bored and depressive but still keeping up the pace. ‘Sea of Pearls’ crashes in with a chuggy riff that provides a melody for Park to sing over. Throughout this album, he changes up his style quite a bit. Here he sounds like an upbeat slacker hinting at his future work in Seam. ‘Hatpins’ goes in a different direction altogether. The tempo goes up to hardcore levels and the vocals are spoken and shouted. Less than two minutes later the next song starts. ‘Knucklehead’ has an intricate intro with a pretty guitar melody of the type that I believe inspired Billy Corgan. But the drums kick in hard and the tempo rises as Park blurts out lyrics in a repetitive 70s-era punk kind of way. Over and over he spits “I said I’m sorry” which turns briefly into a group-shout at the end. A nice touch. Next up is ‘Circle K’ where Park is again depressed and monotone. The music is droney and seems more like a jam session than a song. Maybe Park was manic-depressive because the next song ‘Polio’ enters with a tight, energetic and groovy vibe and stays that way. The vocals again start spoken and then go wild and even angry. What’s wrong, Sooyoung? He’s even more pissed on the final song, ‘Canteloupe’, which is as noisy as Bitch Magnet gets, and he simply belts out lyrics from as deep in his diaphragm as he can.

Not a lot of time passed between Star Booty and Umber but enough for them to add a guitarist and develop their sound a bit. So, what is it with this band’s name? Obviously the name Bitch Magnet is an ironic gesture for a band of experimental punk rock nerds but their music is not ironic; they come across as very serious in their sound. However, the first song on Umber, ‘Motor’, challenges their seriousness as they sound like an indie-punk version of Motorhead. The music is solid and moderately heavy and Park settles into a controlled spoken/sung growl. It’s mostly in the lyrics here that he reminds me of Lemmy:

My motor / feel it burn / my engine / you’ll hear it sing
Cause I’m the jack and I’m the king

‘Clay’ is Bitch Magnet gone epic; Slow intro that builds, loud-quiet-loud dynamic, guitar and bass flourishes breaking up the quiet parts. Park lets loose here – not with screams but general confidence. Gone is the insecure J Mascis quality from his voice. He just speaks, sings, growls, and mumbles as needed.

Umber is more of a rock album than Star Booty and perhaps more than any in the Squirrel Bait family. Aside from the buttrock lyrics in ‘Motor’ we also have several songs that are peppered with southern rock. ‘Joan of Arc’ is led by a groovy metal riff and Park tries more growling and yelping. ‘Goat-Legged Country God’ goes that way even further with its riffing. But it reels the rock-n-roll back in with a wall of feedback borrowed from Sonic Youth and Park’s humbly spoken words. ‘Joyless Street’ is another very lively affair with guitar work that I think may have been stolen by Billy Corgan. It is bluesy, down-tuned guitar rock washed with feedback. ‘Punch and Judy’ sounds so much like later Shellac to me that it makes me again wonder where the lines are drawn between Steve Albini and everybody else’s music. More lush guitar work appears on the final track, ‘Americruiser’, which is a great example of why Slint is not more special than Bitch Magnet.

Overall this is one hell of an enjoyable listen. Forget about all the indie-shit, this album is good for the bedroom intellectual and the summertime road-tripper alike.

8.9/10

Engine

Originally released by Teen Beat
Reissued by Drag City

Track list:
1. A Watery Kentucky
2. Easy Company
3. A Jar of Fat
4. Ursus Arctos Wonderfilis
5. Eye Street
6. For Soren Mueller
7. Serpentine Orbit
8. Even the Odd Orbit

Lineup:
David Grubbs – guitar, piano, vocals
Bundy K. Brown – bass
John McEntire – drums

At some point David Grubbs decided that rock music was too limiting so he took his band mates from the final incarnation of Bastro and began Gastr Del Sol. The Serpentine Similar is their first release, and here he gets as experimental as he wants to be – which is apparently a lot.

The first song, ‘A Watery Kentucky’, is a 9-minute ramble of meandering, slowly swinging guitar with a little bit of bass and some random-sounding percussion thrown in occasionally. It’s topped off with Grubbs mumbling in a sing-song fashion about nothing discernable. The final result sounds indulgent and perhaps a little abusive. Why did Gastr Del Sol use all this studio time and frontload their first album with this piece? It sounds more like a practice session or a loose jam. But, hey, it’s their album so let’s see where it goes. The whole thing is less than a half-hour long so we’re already done with a third of it.

Grubbs pulls out his acoustic guitar for ‘Easy Complex’ and does some quick “jazzy” vocals over staccato strumming and scale runs (fans of Kayo Dot should take note). This one starts to remind me of old Pavement but at about one minute long it hardly has time to go anywhere.

‘A Jar of Fat’ is proof that Grubbs loves avant-garde jazz and probably would rather be doing that. Hey, maybe that’s what he thinks he is doing. That could explain a lot. He begins solo on the piano playing runs that conjure Thelonious Monk or Chick Corea although he was probably shooting more for Cecil Taylor. The scratchy feedback thrown in at the end reminds us that these guys are not seasoned jazzmen but simply college students with musical talent who want to create something new. Oh well, it’s still pretty good.

‘Ursus Arctos Wonderfilis’ is another 180 degree turn as Grubbs pulls out some of his guitar tricks. Grubbs has since become famous for his unique guitar compositions and style, and he has been performing and recording solo guitar for eager audiences since these early days. But here we just get a taste of the repetitive yet deeply textured, folky guitar work to come. Bundy dutifully follows around with his bass as Grubbs explores a bit of John Fahey and Leo Kottke territory. I wish the whole album was like this.

‘Eye Street’ is another piano piece. This time I think we can hear Vince Guaraldi and maybe this is the way that Schroeder will play if he grows up and becomes an intellectual. Maybe he’ll even top off his piano with some odd, non sequitur vocals like Grubbs does here.


‘For Soren Mueller’ finally gives McEntire something to do as Gastr Del Sol begins to work as a three-piece band. It’s still a lot of guitar noodling but they do open the throttle in bursts to let McEntire go wild with the rhythm for a few moments.

‘Serpentine Orbit’ features more vocals up front that may tell some kind of story. Grubbs also plunks out a few notes and chords on his guitar. Meh.

The last track, ‘Even the Odd Orbit’, is another instrumental guitar track. This is early math rock. Grubbs keeps tight control over the complex timing that he uses. Songs like this make me forgive Grubbs for his experimental indulgences; he’s got skills and he should use them however he likes.

Overall, The Serpentine Similar is a fairly disjointed-sounding album that has moments of brilliance and excitement. In a way, David Grubbs is a virtuosic guitar player of which he gives us little glimpses on this album. Perhaps he was just discovering that himself as he made these songs. After this, Brown and McEntire moved on to make history with Tortoise and Grubbs continued Gastr Del Sol as a two-piece with fellow experimentalist, Jim O’Rourke. The Serpentine Similar is not one of the greatest Squirrel Bait family recordings but it is an important mark on Grubbs’s growth chart nonetheless.

6.8/10

swim

Engine this is a wonderful idea. This is the best idea. I'm unaware of you're other posts but you are now my favorite.

__________________
http://nakednaps.bandcamp.com/

Engine

Thank you, swim. I'm glad you like the idea. Part of why I'm doing this is to give exposure to some of my favorites - and part of it is to reacquaint myself with bands and albums that have been collecting dust for too long.

Engine

Released by Skin Graft

Track list:
1. Neither Yield nor Reap (7:03)
2. Host of Latecomers (4:00)
3. Stump of a Drowner (3:58)
4. Restrained From Do and Will Not (Leave) (10:53)
5. One Syntactical Unit (24:12)



Players:
Dylan Posa – guitar
Darin Gray – bass
Jim O’Rourke – guitar, organ, avant-garde samples
Thymme Jones – drums

Brise-Glace were a project that famously involved Jim O’Rourke while he was also playing with noise and other music with David Grubbs in Gastr Del Sol. He teamed up with other experimental musicians and they recorded When In Vanitas… and gave another engineering credit to Steve Albini. I don't know if it is because this music was made during the carefree days of the Clinton administration when college kids and other slackers had plenty of free time to indulge in their artistic whims or if these guys are important musicians on a larger level than just experimental rock music. I really don’t. But here is what I think of the five songs that comprise the one LP that these musicians made together.

‘Neither Yield nor Reap’ starts with a spare, lazy guitar line and, after a couple minutes, O’Rourke injects some sound effects and ambient noise that build to a mad industrial noise beat. That fads out as Jones starts a jazzy, swinging beat that he pulled straight out of the 1940s. This eventually devolves into scratchy static stabs that close out the song.

‘Host of Latecomers’ has a sparse, drawn out intro that is hardly noticeable but it gets louder and a rousing drum beat enters (presumably to wake you up) and backs up O’Rourke playing with sounds.

‘Stump of a Downer’ has the drums and other beats kicked up a notch. They provide head-nodding rhythm behind improvised-sounding guitar riffs and strums; they all go on like this for a while before degenerating into sampled noise and finishing up. This is a really nice track. It’s short, catchy, and blissed out. It’s good when art music makes you feel that way.

‘Restrained from Do and Will Not (Leave)’ finds Brise-Glace getting down to the essence of what it means to be an experimental rock band. Lots of noodling, random drum beats, and playing with feedback. It’s always very mellow like the band is jamming like Mingus and Monk (who are, in this case, Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore). Halfway through, the beat gets insistent and then we are treated with a long stretch of silence. If you turn it way up you’ll hear some of O’Rourke’s ‘found sounds’. This song is a supremely artsy way to spend ten minutes.

#5. 'One Syntactical Unit'. This is it. Here it is. Like Helen of Troy’s face launched one thousand ships, this song launched one thousand post-rock bands. A slow melody opens the song before drums bring the tension up to a hypnotic, soothing level. O’Rourke buzzes around the background with ambient noise that sounds like tree frogs and all the other creatures that live outside on summer nights. About five minutes in we get a spacey interlude. More O’Rourke I guess. Another five minutes later the band plays together again as quiet guitar riffs introduce another raucous beat the likes of which we have not heard since track #1. Art/Music/Drama all wrapped into one. I wonder how many kids dropped out of art school to pursue their music because of this song. I’ll bet there are a few. O’Rourke throws on a bunch of random stuff next which thankfully includes some good vintage jazz singing and blues guitar. It’s a good little break from his other, more meandering sounds. Drums return after a while and backup more noise until they crescendo to a noisy peak that marks the climax of the song, the album, and the band. Distorted lounge jazz buried low in the mix finishes it all.

When In Vanitas… strikes you with a brazen and audacious mixture of playfulness and seriousness. I can’t tell if they made this album for joy or for artistic expression but, either way, the result is art music that never loses sight of the fact that they are a band making music. This was serious avant-garde music made in the mid-1990s. Oddly enough, in certain ways this album makes more sense than a lot of other supposedly generation-defining music made at that time. One thing that Brise-Glace were not was bored; When In Vanitas… is proof of that.

7.6/10

Engine

Released by Skin Graft

Track List:
1. Franken-Bitch
2. Dancing Sumo Wrestlers
3. Desert Rose
4. Hi Ka Ri
5. TWA Corbies
6. Skeleton King
7. Get Out of Here
8. Disembody
9. Slice of Life



Players:
KK Null – guitar, vocals
Darin Gray – bass
Thymme Jones - drums
Jim O’Rourke – guitar

Here are two words guaranteed to excite a certain demographic: Japanese Noise. The boys from Brise-Glace teamed up with KK Null to record an album (engineered by, you guessed it, Steve Albini) and named themselves Yona-Kit. Their self-titled LP is nowhere near as noisy as KK Null’s band, Zevi Geva, and it is also not nearly as artsy as Brise-Glace. Yona-Kit is a hybrid of both of those bands and this makes them more accessible than either of their parts.

‘Franken-Bitch’ is the opener and a definite crowd-pleaser. It begins with something that sounds like a cat fight or dolphin sounds – that is Yasuko Onuki of Melt Banana who offers guest vocals on this song only. A bouncy Albini-influenced guitar riff starts off the song which quickly lets the other instruments crash in to form a loose, noisy rhythm. But the fun doesn’t really start until Null’s vocals kick in. The man has a natural deep, guttural growl that must be the envy of metal vocalists worldwide. He vomits lyrics in a way that manages to be highly pleasing to the ear. Null is easy to picture as a vicious samurai in a Kurosawa film. Onuki helps out with the high pitched sounds she makes but she doesn’t go too crazy, just makes a beautiful noisy duet with Null.


‘Dancing Sumo Wrestlers’ starts with more guitar work that reminds me of something I have heard on Shellac albums. I really don’t intend to keep mentioning Albini but it’s hard not to in this case. No offense to the guitarists but it really, really sounds like Steve Albini playing guitar here. Ghostly vocals hover in the air for atmosphere and texture while the rhythm stays steady and pronounced throughout. Most of this album rocks at about the same level that Shellac does. This is one of several songs on it with a steady groove that takes time to stretch out, slow down, or drag on at will.

‘Desert Rose’ brings some changes. Null starts muttering (in Japanese?) over a jazzy beat and melody that sounds like something Miles Davis might have done in the early-70s. Null quiets down and the guitar solos on a pretty melody for at least several seconds. This song is good but it reminds you of why they call this music experimental; because it sometimes sounds like just some shit that the band tried out for fun. In this case the experiment works out well, though.

‘Hi Ka Ra’ starts out with Null either laughing or crying for a split second and then lets loose with classic “experimental indie rock” from this period. That is, this is for fans of Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 and such. It still has a pretty deep groove in parts and more of that uniquely distorted Albini sound on the guitars. Most notable though is Null’s vocals which go all over the place or rather, sings a bunch of scales.

‘TWA Corbies’ features Null singing in a way that reminds me of some kind of ancient Japanese theater. He punctuates that with some spoken vocals while the band plugs away at a repetitive yet lively backdrop. Another breakdown straight out of At Action Park interrupts at one point.

‘Skeleton King’ is rocking good fun. If you are at all interested in anything I have said about this album then I think you will find this song extremely enjoyable and it may make you want to get up and dance. Brise-Glace finally found a way to make their artsy, jazzy shtick get your ass out of its seat.

‘Get Out of Here’ evokes a claustrophobic but still euphoric atmosphere like Times Square on New Year’s Eve or, I guess, downtown Tokyo on Oshogatsu. Null’s vocals prove that he’s a mad genius as he frantically bellows Let’s Get Outta Here/What the Hell as the chorus.

The last actual song is ‘Disembody’ which is a mellow jazzy number driven forward by the rhythm section and accompanied by various other sounds. This sounds like it is better suited to a Brise-Glace album. It doesn’t exactly go anywhere but it also doesn’t interrupt the flow and it’s another generally successful experiment.

‘Slice of Life’ closes the album very slowly; it’s over 23 minutes long. Not only that but it doesn’t really change throughout the whole thing; and not only that but it’s a really good song. If you are or ever were in a band that wanted to jam extensively but hated the Grateful Dead, your music probably sounds like a poor version of this song (although I’m sure you’re very talented – keep at it, folks). The rhythm stays steady and soulful in a punk rock kind of way while the guitars do their experimental rock thing. The band always stays tight with just enough variation to keep you interested or at least hypnotized.

Yona-Kit is for rock fans who don’t expect their music to do the work for them and for experimental noise fans who don’t mind a melody and for post-rock fans who don’t mind noisy punk.

9.1/10

Engine

Will Oldham

You can tell from the photo that it is fairly old by looking at how many hairs are still left on top of the man’s head. Now, because of his grizzly beard, bald head, and the otherworldly folk music that he plays, you may have pegged Will Oldham as an old Appalachian Bluegrass man. While he definitely projects that image, he was actually born in 1970 in Louisville, Kentucky and hung out with the guys from Slint.

The relationship is slightly difficult to trace because these bands did not like to plaster names and photos all over their album inserts. They often just submitted a few names and credits and otherwise let the music speak for itself. It’s an admirable concept but it’s hell on those of us who are obsessed with tracing histories and connections.

The first clue that I found about Oldham’s connection to the Squirrel Bait family is in the sparse liner notes in Slint’s Spiderland album. There we see that he took the photo of Slint in a scenic swimming hole that adorns the cover of everybody’s favorite post-rock album.


Will released his first album (There Is No-One What Will Take Care of You) in 1993. Just about all of his many recordings are collaborative affairs with rotating members who each often play various instruments. In the case of this album, Brian McMahon (Squirrel Bait, Slint) plays guitar, bass and drums and Britt Walford (original Squirrel Bait drummer, Slint) does the same. Since 1993, Oldham has made many albums, EPs, and has collaborated with a hell of a lot of musicians – some very notable. When Johnny Cash did his late-life albums of covers he chose Will Oldham's 'I See a Darkness' and asked Will to join him on the recording. He backs up Cash around the 2 minute mark on the video..


Will Oldham is a member of the Squirrel Bait family and he created his own unique creative path. His music gets called other things than post-rock (anti-folk, Americana, etc.) and I think it appeals to a lot more people than perhaps any of the other family members’ music does. It definitely appeals a lot to me; Will Oldham has been a consistent favorite of mine since the mid-90s. He deserves to have his own thread full of reviews of all of his output but since he is just one branch of this tree I will limit myself to three early albums:

There Is No-One What Will Take Care of You, Palace Brothers (1993)
Viva Last Blues, Palace Music (1995)
Arise Therefore, Will Oldham (1996)

Terrible Lizard

Good overview.

__________________
“YOU ARE SCUM SLUT.”
-John Martyn

Urban Hat€monger ?

I'll tolerate these in the lounge but if these start cropping up in the music forums they'll be treated as spam & deleted.

__________________