Bill Adams, Author at Ground Control Magazine

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into Beggar Weeds’ Tragedy in U.S. History LP. It’s funny how, sometimes, there’s a collision between music and time which ends up leaving people to feel like they showed up late to the party, or walked in by accident without knowing there was anything happening at all. It’s not one of those occasions that anyone enjoys, but the reward which comes with the music still leaves those who came upon it glad that they discovered it. Beggar Weeds’ new album is exactly that kind of document – split between being a career retrospective album and a collection of demos that were produced by indie and alt-rock statesman Michael Stipe but which haven’t been released before now, Tragedy in U.S. History attempts to give the uninitiated a summation of all that has been in the Florida-based band’s all-too-brief time together (from 1986 ti 1992) and, from a discovery standpoint (that is, discovering most of the good aspects of the band – all collected together in one place), it does a pretty good job.

Tragedy in U.S. History‘s desire to express both the band’s ambition as well as that of the album itself is evident as soon as needle catches groove on the album’s A-side and “All I Need” opens its’ running. There, Scott Leuthold’s jangly, trebly guitars can’t help but call to mind shades of (Murmur era) R.E.M., but the soul in his voice sets the greatest, most obvious differentiation as soon as he lets it rip. Comparatively, Michael Stipe is about as stoic as Leonard Cohen while Leuthold presses past assumptions and really puts the vocal “honk” in “honky tonk.” That might sound like criticism, but it really isn’t; the soul in Leuthold’s vocals combined with the band’s lean, sinewy barroom rock backdrop is simultaneously hypnotic and raucous.

The energy set up on “All I Need” endures through “Skinny,” “Harry Lee” and “Graduating,” and holds up exactly as well as it did on the album’s first cut. In each case, the band comes close to sounding like their energy might have been inspired by a religious revival event in their native Florida; while the band was often compared to other “swamp rock” groups in the state, a consistent jangle-rock push rings through the instruments and the higher tones that Leuthold’s voice reaches come close to almost sounding like South Carolina field calls – they sometimes come close to sounding piercing, in tone, but can hit listeners warmly, in performance.

As solidly as the A-side plays in form, listeners won’t be able to miss a certain change in focus, when “Churchin’” winds up to close the side. There, the heart and soul which rang through the lyrics elsewhere on the side changes as “Churchin’” opens with the words, “I don’t mind, I don’t care” before Leuthold almost seems to mope and mumble at the notion of having a good time. Listeners who are still new to Beggar Weeds may have some difficulty balancing the two tones that the song establishes, in that regard – and they’ll still be trying when Leuthold shifts again for the “We’re churchin’” choral rejoinder – which can confuse listeners because it doesn’t sound ironic or loaded, in the slightest. Needless to say, the final emotion left with listeners will likely be one of utter confusion; granted, it could be seen as an enormous hook which could get listeners to flip the record over as soon as “Churchin’” lets out, but there’s no question that it’s an unexpected bait to cast – if that was indeed the band’s desired intent.

Now, as neatly as the A-side of the album establishes the persona of Beggar Weeds, the B-side changes directions in a most unexpected way by hinting at all that could have been, had the band lasted longer than they did. On the B-side, listeners find a collection of demos which were produced by Michael Stipe which has gone unreleased until now and, listening to them, it is really, really easy to hear Stipe’s fingerprints on them; while the music on the album’s A-side bristles with a bright and jangly energy, a deeper and thicker low end shades “Seer,” which gives it greater depth and pushes Leuthold’s vocals clearly into the foreground. That arrangement endures after “Seer” and through “Linden and Mary” – although Leuthold sounds a little more like Fred Schneider in his performance there, before reaching an unusual tonal hybrid of Schneider and Gordon Gano on “Elizabeth.” While such track-by-track alterations could easily be dismissed as “early career stylistic development,” the sharper edge that’s visible in the singer’s performance on “Daddy’s Little Angel” is simultaneously more difficult to ignore or excuse and the manic energy of “Ship” basically ensures that some listeners who have run front-to-back with this album will be relieved to see the needle lift – it’s just too “country” for the band’s own good.

Standing back from the Tragedy in U.S. History LP, it’s easy to see that Beggar Weeds were still developing as the tape rolled on the album and had yet to hammer all the flaws out of their sound. Had the band hung on a little longer, there’s little doubt that they could have achieved their desired goal and won a piece of the alt-rock world for themselves; the promise was there, just not enough time to realize it. It’s a shame that the band fell short of their goal but, even so, about seventy-five per cent of Tragedy in U.S. History stands as “must hear” material, and so leaves a portion of a diagram that some other ambitious player may be inspired to finish, someday. Here’s hoping…. [Bill Adams]

Artist:
https://strollingbonesrecords.com
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61583217724698&sk=about
https://www.instagram.com/beggar_weeds

Album:
Beggar Weeds’ Tragedy in U.S. History LP is out now. Buy it here on Strolling Bones Records’ official web site.

The post Vinyl Vlog 691 appeared first on Ground Control Magazine.

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Porterhouse Records-pressed, 45th Anniversary reissue of the Teen City EP by The Modernettes. Isn’t it funny how, in punk rock, being known for only a couple of songs can still make a band superstars? It’s funny, but it’s true – really, Vancouver’s Modernettes have a catalogue which includes just one full-length album (1981’s Gone… But Not Forgiven) and two EPs (1980’s Teen City and 1982’s View From The Bottom), but the band is still well-known and has made several walk-on appearances in movies as a road-hardened punk band who’s fame is well-deserved – among other appearances, Modernettes appeared raising funds for Bucky Haight in Hard Core Logo. The song that the band is seen playing in Hard Core Logo is “Suicide Club” – arguably the band’s biggest hit and the second song on the Teen City EP; it might not sound like a significant event but, as soon as I heard it here, I was sold on reviewing this new reissue.

But we should begin at the beginning. On first sight, more seasoned (read: older) listeners will recognize the cover of Teen City as looking a lot like other covers from the era which came to be defined by New Wave (cubes or squares predominantly appear in the background – often containing or housing band members – and the images of those band members are presented monochromatically; not unlike the schemes that appeared on Talking Heads album covers as well as the covers of albums by Police, Elvis Costello, Devo and David Bowie – to a smaller degree, but the music doesn’t fit so easily into a box like that.As soon as needle catches groove and “Barbara” opens the A-side of Teen City, a very punky bass line rolls along in a similar manner to the one in “God Save The Queen,” but both the vocals and backup vocals betray a far slicker sound; while going so far as to call it straight-out pop might be a bit of a reach, the romanticism of lines which discuss, “spending our lives together” are at least closer to The Replacements or later Ramones songs than anything else. As the cut continues, desires to “skip class with Barbra” and some vocal stutters which feel reminiscent of early Elvis Costello (and also Buddy Holly) will leave listeners wondering what they’re hearing as the cut runs out after one minute and fifty-seven seconds but, then, the uninitiated will have their faces melted and minds blown by “Suicide Club.” There, right away, a snide-sounding guitar and thick bass open the song with an acerbic swagger that rivals the New York Dolls at first, and cranks up the fire with a guitar overdub which makes for a perfect pay-off as the instruments part in the mix and give the words, “Everybody falls in love at the suicide club” ample room to breathe. It’s the kind of moment which freezes time for listeners, and just holds them hypnotized – and when they’re finally able to shake free of it, they’ll coast with the band through “Celebrity Crackup,” which would be incendiary anywhere else but, following “Suicide Club,” only plays like a very able continuation. Here, the song just feels like a good, post-coital holdover which helps let listeners cool down before the needle lifts and the side needs changing.

As outlined above, the A-side of the Teen City EP holds an unreasonable amount of influence – but listeners will find that the B-side, while not as instantly memorable as its counterpart, deserves notice as well. There, on “Confidential,” guitars which sound comparable to Husker Du frame lines like, “Everybody knows the answers to our problems, no one helps us solve them/ They all know the answers to our questions, but they can’t resolve them” and effortlessly present the senses of confusion and ennui that would eventually characterize both grunge and alt-rock. With the benefit of hindsight, the song is brilliant and predates pretty much everything that would be a million-seller about twenty years following this release but, here, it rings as just a good cut that needs more definition. The same claim could be made as frustration at parental problems manifest in “Little Girls” as well as the perfectly undefined concerns of “what little girls are for” (which feels worrisome, in a post-”Me Too” world) as well as the title track that closes the EP and, for its part, sums up the boredom and frustration of living in a small town in a way which, again, feels familiar in 2026, but would likely have felt really fresh when the EP was first released.

…And, standing back from it, the quandary of what it is stacked with what it represents remains the greatest problem with this reissued pressing of the Teen City EP; it’s great and feels like it inspired (or should have inspired) a lot of the bands and music which followed it, but the verdict on what the EP actually achieved and/or who it actually inspired is still very much out. Repeated listens by those who find this reissue will leave them knowing that the music is great and that it holds a lot of potential to inspire others, the question is only how far that signal might carry from there. That question has been open for decades and, then as now, we can only hope. [Bill Adams]

Artist:
https://www.facebook.com/modernettes
https://citizenfreak.com/artists/99758-modernettes

Further Reading:
Vinyl Vlog 615 – The Modernettes – View From The Bottom 12” EP

Album:
The Porterhouse Records reissue of the Teen City EP is out now. Buy it here, directly from Porterhouse Records.

The post Vinyl Vlog 689 appeared first on Ground Control Magazine.

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the 45th anniversary, Porterhouse Records reissue of the Perfect Youth LP by Pointed Sticks. It might sound tragic at first, but it is a fact that some bands are completely incapable of fitting in with their peers because the verdict is always out regarding whether they’re ahead of their time or completely anachronistic. Vancouver’s Pointed Sticks exemplified that logistical dilemma perfectly; formed in 1978, the band successfully came in behind the first wave of punk bands but, because the bandmembers were actually solid players (guitarist Bill Napier-Hemy was not afraid of solos and drummer Dimwit was capable of playing with more feeling than many of the players who filled the drum seat in The Ramones), they were ahead of many of the players in the burgeoning New Wave scene too. Simply said, Pointed Sticks were simply not an easy fit into any musical community when they were starting out and, while some more forward-thinking critics would call that commendable, the truth is that not having a community or peer group can hurt as much as it helps because it can really limit word-of-mouth – in that case, people just really have to see that band they can’t define for themselves because they’re really not sure how to sing that band’s praises, or to whom.

That sense of feeling something really special, unique and rare will likely overtake listeners as they look at the cover of Porterhouse Records’ reissue of Perfect Youth. The cover image of a hand drawn and androgynous character with cotton candy pink hair complimented with an orange shirt and contrasted against a green table cloth and a blue floor is very striking – and listeners will realize how complimentary it is to the music when needle catches groove and “Marching Song” opens the A-side of the album. There, from note one, Pointed Sticks don’t so much direct listeners what they can expect from the album so much as just throw them in and get to work; Napier-Remy’s stringy, sinewy guitar propels the song along with the help of Dimwit’s drums (yes, bassist Tony Bardach is present on the cut, but locks in so close to Napier-Remy’s guitar that it’s difficult to tell one from the other), and Nick Jones rides the crest of the cut with some very nasal – but also very clear – vocals. The result is excellent, truly; it sounds like the work of the best punk band you’ve never heard, and will pull listeners along with it using quality performance as the greatest hook.

After “Marching Song” sets the tone for the album, it follows up hurriedly with Perfect Youth‘s title track and really sets some of the precedents that other bands would borrow and come to establish themselves with too, in the years which would follow when this release hit, originally. Between the incredibly poppy vocal melody and guitar tones, for example, it’s easy to figure out what notes Peter Buck was making for the early days of R.E.M. – when he was working at a record store. There too, lines like, “If you’re perfect, there isn’t any right or wrong” feel revolutionary when you’re reading them, but just tossed off, off-handedly when Jones sings them and, in that way (or because of it), it just feels like the place where punk rock really had the chance to germinate – not in New York or London. In that way too, the horns which appear on “No Use For U” dance so well with the rest of the band that they feel like the outlier which should have given birth to X-Ray Spex – even if it might have happened the other way around.

Of course, there are moments in the running which are also undeniably flies in the ointment on this side of Perfect Youth. “American Song,” with its’ very tight and focussed savvy, would eventually come to define New Wave but feels a little left of centre when it appears in this running, as does the overly keyboard-driven ballad, “When She’s Alone.” Even so though, there’s no question that Pointed Sticks has a greater gift for arrangement than many of the other bands from that time period, and that knowledge does help to enrich this album.

The surprises continue to materialize after listeners renew the album’s play on its’ B-side. There, Pointed Sticks show that Sublime might have cribbed the riff from “The Witch” for “Date Rape,” decades later, as it plays through. Laughably, the arrangement of “Way You Do” sounds like it might have come from the score of a cartoon. As left-of-center as the B-side might get though, when they return to form, Pointed Sticks really hit the mark; “Out Of Luck” doesn’t exactly grind out a classic kind of punk rhythm figure, but it is absolutely impossible to ignore and really engages listeners as well as buy some tolerance for the synths which dilute “Part of the Noise,” “Destitute” (which is devoid of the quality writing which appeared elsewhere on Perfect Youth) and “Angeline” (which sounds like it could have been a throwaway cut from the Grease soundtrack).

For as many problematic cuts as there might be in the album’s late-playing, the standout songs throughout the runtime of Perfect Youth make fans who are strong enough to look past the missteps. Those listeners who run front-to-back with the album won’t be finished with it after the first time through; there is plenty on this reissue to appreciate, and those who already know that, will begin the process of disseminating the praise so that others will start looking for their own copy to discover and sing the praises of. [Bill Adams]

Artist:

https://www.facebook.com/thepointedsticks/about
https://myspace.com/pointedsticks?fbclid=IwY2xjawPuSg9leHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFiZlpoWDNKR3lXdk5tc095c3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHq2QsQUSzHorfR7swj3K9rb7x5TbdlRVmEearRUHe_P9rrUKucfzZGYbGWyj_aem_hSnn5XOwQHVvZmp776ZTWQ

Album:
The 45th Anniversary pressing of Pointed Sticks’ Perfect Youth is out now. Buy it here, directly from Porterhouse Records. https://porterhouserecords.com/store/pointedSticks/perfectYouth.html

The post Vinyl Vlog 688 appeared first on Ground Control Magazine.

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the 30th anniversary vinyl pressing of the …Rocks Your Lame Ass LP by Hagfish. It might comes as a surprise, but the greatest problem that a band might face if they happen to release an album during a moment of great interest in a particular music genre isn’t getting caught in the wave, it is appearing after the tide has begun to recede. In 1994, for example, the Offspring, Green Day, NOFX, Rancid, Weezer and Bad Religion all released career-defining albums which helped to completely reshape popular taste – and the influence of which still holds, over thirty years later. Comparatively speaking, 1995 was a very different year; while Rancid would release another album right away [Rancid released Let’s Go in ’94, and then …And Out Come The Wolves came out in 1995 –ed] to great praise, Green Day would release their “scare their fair-weather fans away” album in 1995 too [Insomniac –ed] and bands including Pennywise, No Doubt and Rocket From The Crypt appeared, but the view was far different; the ground had already been broken and so those bands had to try and compete with established peers – not just show up and get noticed – and that competition was stiff. Bands had to work unreasonably hard against an already densely packed field – just ask Hagfish. Formed in 1991, Hagfish released its debut album, Buick Men, in 1993 on Dragon Street Records and then made the big leap to a major label in 1995 with …Rocks Your Lame Ass. It sort of worked, at the time – having Bill Stevenson and Stephen Egerton (of The Descendents) produce the album at punk mecca The Blasting Room helped to associate Hagfish with some punk heavyweights, and the album became positively reviewed and regarded (punknews.org gave …Rocks Your Lame Ass 4.5 stars and Entertainment Weekly gave it a B- rating) and the album yielded two singles; it was a respectable showing all around. It didn’t last though; after their label, London Records, rejected their follow-up album, Hagfish signed with Fat Wreck Chords’ subsidiary label Honest Don’s and released their self-titled album in 1998 but, by then, the world was changing. By then, Hagfish was still capable of generating excitement on the live stage, but the band’s time recording studio albums (or recording at all, really) was up. That has remained true to this day but, now, Porterhouse Records has rescued …Rocks Your Lame Ass from obscurity and released it on vinyl for the very first time.

As soon as needle catches groove on …Rocks Your Lame Ass and “Happiness” kicks open the doors on the album’s A-side, even those who don’t remember Hagfish will recognize the era from which the album sprang on sound alone; with very nasal but melodic vocals, tightly wound, four-chord guitars and an absolutely enormous drum sound, listeners will recognize the formula that Blink 182 turned platinum several times over, and immediately start to feel both the vibe and the power of the music. Throughout “Happiness,” all of the cliches which characterized the pop punk fervour of that moment appear but, unbelievably, the song comes through shining instead of just feeling like a slippery nostalgia trip; singer George Reagan nails the marks as a solid melodic punk singer [that is to say, Reagan overshadows the work that James Newhouse did previously – he was Hagfish’s second singer –ed] and doesn’t try to steal the show so much as simply share the spotlight with guitarist Zach Blair, bassist Doni Blair and drummer Tony Barsotti (who was the “other” new blood on …Rocks Your Lame Ass as well –ed]. Lyrics like, “Pull over and talk to me/ I know you’re much too young to spend all your time with me” try to approach sounding like a slightly older variation of The Descendents (“Pull over” implies a car instead of a bike) and, while the band’s name implies a profuse amount of slippery snot, the musicianship comes off as clean and tight. Granted, that the song features the entire lyric sheet repeated twice instead of trying to write more than one verse leaves a little to be desired, the “in, out and done in two minutes” spirit of the cut makes the lack of further lyrical inclusion perfectly excusable, and leaves listeners hungry for the remainder of the side – because no song on it approaches three minutes in duration.

As short as they are, listeners aren’t really left feeling like they’re being short-changed as the A-side of …Rocks Your Lame Ass progresses. “Stamp” issues a stunning come-on that it takes a second to recognize as such (the band sets up a drink invitation before the girl who offers it says she wants a whole lot more from the song’s hero) while “Flat” rewrites the kind of love song that every punk band did between 1995 and 2005 while the main character in “Bullet” mimics Milo Aukerman in his desire to not be invisible to girls before mimicking the Offspring’s “Self-Esteem” with a “that girl doesn’t care” plaint in “Minit Maid” and once again doing exactly what The Descendents do (talk about food for a minute and a half) with “White Food” to close out the side. Now, it is worth pointing out that, while the Descendents (and, also, Dead Kennedys) looked at the value of food as fuel, Hagfish takes a more figurative tack with “White Food” as they talk about the nutritional value of soul food versus the nutritionally vacant value of “White Food” (or fast food). It’s still impossible to completely discount the earnest power of the song and how hard it drives, here. Even more than that, when the song claps to a close and ends the side, it does so with such force that listeners will rush to flip the record over – begging for more.

…And, while the thinner verses coupled with the generally weaker lyrics which run through “Disappointed” cause the song to live down to its’ name, “Plain” surpasses its’ moniker and redeems the play immediately thereafter. There, the lyrical melody actually veers close to straight-out pop while both the guitar and bass grind against each other in a most satisfying manner. Better still, “Buster” comes close to achieving a sort of poppy genius which could have easily made it a standout song on a movie soundtrack around 1999 or 2000, as the syrupy sweetness crystallizes nicely for the harder candy rock of “Trixi” (a song about a girl who “needs therapy” and “someone to hold”). Granted, many critics who have followed popular trends might say that “Trixi” has aged like milk in the post “Me too” environment of 2026, that the song is followed by the rather coy question of “Did You Notice” could leave a clue that, even when they were originally making …Rocks Your Lame Ass, “Trixi” was going to need some relief.

Finally, Hagfish wraps up …Rocks Your Lame Ass with their own two and a half-minute goodbye, “Hose.” There, Reagan effortlessly intertwines the concepts of sex and “farewell” with one girl’s help as she finds ways to lie so sweetly and flawlessly that our protagonist accepts every word. Here again, it could easily be contended that the lyrics and sentiments haven’t aged well at all, but that “Hose” is where the album ends means that those who run front-to-back with the album have to take it as it is, or start from the beginning again. Whether to start from the top or not is absolutely, positively the listener’s choice, and the decision might be 50/50 – which is perfectly ironic, in its own way. In 1995, listeners were free to take or leave …Rocks Your Lame Ass as they chose because it appeared after the craze had already crested and so the music business at large wasn’t trying to cram it down listeners’ collective throat. The exact same thing is true of this reissue. Sometimes, bands prove that they simply cannot escape their own fate – and that appears to be true of Hagfish. [Bill Adams]

Artist:
https://www.facebook.com/p/Hagfish-100068593773029/
https://open.spotify.com/artist/74KzdiBiTfEUkdnoG5fQUF
https://www.instagram.com/hagfishtx/?hl=en

Album:
Hagfish’s 30th Anniversary vinyl release of Rocks Your Lame Ass is out now. Buy it here, directly from Porterhouse Records.

The post Vinyl Vlog 687 appeared first on Ground Control Magazine.

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Ponderosa Bunchgrass and the Golden Rule LP by The Oot n’ Oots. I confess that I have sat on this review (or rather, have dragged my feet on writing this review) for an unreasonably long time. A lot of that had to do with the fact that I honestly had no idea how to approach it; The Oot N’ Oots (the band itself) and Ponderosa Bunchgrass and the Golden Rule (the album) are intended to be childrens’ music and while no one would question that I’m immature, it hasn’t been easy for me to approach children’s music on its own terms – when Tiny Masters of Today (a band comprised of children) and the Mushpot Records stable of artists sent me music for review years ago, that was comparatively simple because it was kids making music older than their years. How to approach the album without coming off like a cynical critic evaded me for a while but, after running front-to-back on the album with me, my youngest daughter told me, “That album is fun and cute Dad. I enjoyed it, you can too.”

With that endorsement in hand, I took my daughter’s advice and just had fun with Ponderosa Bunchgrass and the Golden Rule. This is what I found.

It’s absolutely impossible for one’s eyes to not start sparkling with delight as soon as needle catches groove on the A-side of Ponderosa Bunchgrass and the Golden Rule. As soon as “PJs All Day” opens the side, a very tight snare drum and a very sly set of horns slip and slide along brightly to compliment a lyric which details an easy-living vibe. Lines like, “If I want to be comfy and I’m staying at home/ We don’t put on no jeans, nah, ’cause that would be wrong/ I’m wearing my PJs all day baby/ Pjs all day, baby” tell listeners all they need to know and exactly how to feel about it (if you hadn’t already figured it out), and those listeners who are having difficulty falling into rhythm with it just need to relax; the first notes here are easy as long as listeners are willing to just let the album take the wheel (like every kid is told to do – under the age of sixteen), and those who do will get both the song’s and the album’s greatest reward.

After “PJs All Day” sets the precedent for the album, “Thank You Universe” shows listeners how to be thankful for the simple things in life – like cookies, the freedom to just be yourself and a beat you can play by stomping on the floor and clapping your hands – without getting too existential about it before “The Golden Rule” serenades a healthy love of bugs and also becomes a little stream-of-consciousness for grins in “The Bird, The Monkey and Me” before finally closing out the side by extolling all the things which make every kid under the age of ten smile (both “Pets” and “Teeny Tiny Things” are self-explanatory). Simply said, every adult will find themselves sighing, “Aw, that’s cute” when the needle lifts, and renewing the play on the second side won’t feel like a chore because they’ll have no trouble figuring out where the band’s head is. Unlike similiar albums like those by Raffi (who is the closest comparison, here) The Oot N’ Oots don’t try to sculpt little psyches or present themselves as somehow psychologically or intellectually above or beyond anyone, they’re just appealing to kids by playing truly and genuinely to the things they like.

The B-side of the album continues on exactly the same trail as the A-side before it and (not surprisingly) yields exactly the same kind of results. The album’s title track opens the B-side by sleepily presenting an airy ode to a girl with a funny name before almost locking into a reggae rhythm that is “Special Because” before slowing down to come at least close to nap time for “Once Upon A Time Dream” (which, comparatively, really misdirects the enduring energy of the album) and going out to the country to visit the farm for “Give What You Have to Bring” (which any adult will recognize as being similar toe the kindergarten song in Billy Madison) before extolling the joys of both snack time and breakfast through “Waffles” and then finally closing out the album with a soft and warm ode to togetherness called “We” – which lays out the beauty of family love and togetherness.

…And that’s it. After “We,” there is no show-stopping, “All together now” singalong moment, “We” marks the end and the needle lifts. Clocking in at almost exactly thirty-five minutes total, the album runs about the same length as the average cartoon with commercial breaks included, and never leaves anything hanging out in the end – so it’s ideal for the repeated listens that kids will definitely ask for, but, never really leaves little things hanging out where kids will ask adults to cherry-pick cuts – which would lead to a shorter lifespan for the record. Because of that, vinyl copies of Ponderosa Bunchgrass and the Golden Rule may be the ones that kids who hear it will keep dearly, and give to their own kids, someday. [Bill Adams]

Artist:
https://theootnoots.bandcamp.com/music
https://www.facebook.com/ootnoots
https://www.instagram.com/ootnoots/?hl=en

Album:
The Ponderosa Bunchgrass and the Golden Rule LP is out now on vinyl, CD and digital download. Buy it here on The Oot N’ Oots’ official bandcamp page.

The post Vinyl Vlog 685 appeared first on Ground Control Magazine.

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Fantasy > Reality LP by MOVIESTARZ. Over the last fifteen years, those working within the punk genre have gone to great lengths to try and reinvent it – but everyone has always come up a little short on achieving something which has felt brand new and exciting. When VICE Records made the leap and attempted to reinvent hardcore with OFF! on their First Four EPs release, the results were fine and reignited interest in both hardcore and small labels similar to what Epitaph achieved, about twenty years before, but the interest proved to only have a fraction of the lasting appeal, and had burned itself out within the five years which followed (excluding the preposterous amount of time that it took the band to complete their Free LSD movie/vanity project). The same problem held true for both Rise Against and Against Me! before OFF!, and for plenty of other bands before them too.

Why has no one managed to meaningfully update punk in a satisfying manner? Part of that has to do with the constraints apparent in the music due to form. At its core, punk is all about rebellion, and one of the requirements to articulate that is to wilfully reject all of that which has come before – but removing that keystone means that you’re just following the same pattern that everyone else has. The result looks an awful lot like an Ouroboros, unfortunately; by attempting to rebel against the norm after the first time it happens, it just becomes another path that any creative entity can do, and so the snake can eat its own tail with a different soundtrack. What makes MOVIESTARZ different from those who have come before is that, unlike artists including Billy Idol, Fischerspooner and Le Tigre who all included elements of electronic music as a convenient seasoning to make what they were doing “a little different,” MOVIESTARZ make that which used to be a novelty included only to get some attention as essential to the music’s form as the punk aspect of it – it’s not just a novelty, it’s the thing that genuinely realizes a unique and completely different kind of music.

The sense of novelty – and the sense of excitement which comes with it – explodes out of Fantasy > Reality as soon as needle catches groove and “Club Punk” opens the album. There, after an anonymous child declares, “I wanna be a movie star,” a gloriously crunchy and phase-effected guitar helps the song spiral to centre stage and then it just takes off, running. Twosome Tyler Nichols (vocals, keyboards) and Alex Pombar (guitar, bass, production) break landspeed records with a surprisingly thick [that only one vocalist is listed in the album’s liner notes of the album came as a complete shock to this critic –ed] and unrelenting, but also very dextrous sound which wins listeners effortlessly. Lyrics ranging from pop orthodoxy (see “Did you dream about being who you are?/ Or watching the clock to be a superstar”) to surprisingly spry inversions of that orthodoxy (check out, “Foreign car, crashed out/ Seeing stars before I get knocked out”) illustrate a “something for everyone approach to songwriting, but that it’s all encased in a candy-pop shell is the thing that ensures satisfaction and repeat listens.

After “Club Punk” get listeners locked in, the megalithic size of the rhythm figure which opens and then powers “Invited” serves as a perfect response to what was started with the previous cut. There, the chunky but nimble guitars and synths sound super-slick and compliment the very digital inflected tone of the vocal, but the cut never lags or drags its’ feet at all; “Invited” manages to reconcile the pop punk overtones of both the lyrics and the vocal tone (imagine feeding a Blink 182 vocal through a harmonizer, and you’re close to how “Invited” sounds) with the song’s inherent electronic structure, and the results echo “Club Punk” without seeming as though MOVIESTARZ just wrote the same song twice. The balance that the band strikes is precarious, but the group proves that the novel nature of the music they’re making doesn’t get stale after listeners have reached a sense of familiarity with it.

As the side progresses, “On Mute” pushes the sound that MOVIESTARZ has established closer to both pop and electroclash before pulling the conglomerate back to Nineties pop punk while upping the electronic tone too for “Records On Repeat,” but the wit of the song (particularly the “skip” at the end, which is the great gag that might get some less-than-intelligent listeners to curse and return the album, regardless of whether they bought a CD or a record) coupled with the danceable electronics will hold listeners dearly engaged. Anyone who thought that Bender was the best part of Futurama will find themselves grinning from ear-to-ear at the humor in this album.

As solid and satisfying as the A-side of the Fantasy > Reality LP is, the B-side brgins on a different tack entirely but still upholds the vibe that the A-side established. As needle catches groove, “The Rush” defies expectation and enters with a much milder movement as the beats and bass come closer to sounding like blanket dance material at any “gentleman’s club,” which sort of works but lines like, “Check-in, checked out/ In a rush, full of doubt/ Where’s the spouse, where’s the ring, where’s the house does it ever work out” sit at odds with the impression that the music makes – which is confusing and won’t leave listeners sorry when the song goes. Happily though, the side is able to bound back when “Listening” returns to the pop-punk/electronica combination that the album began with and remains there for “Chaos In The Magic.”

It is important to point out that, when the album reaches “Chaos In The Magic” in its running, the song represents an achievement in that it successfully balances a much milder tempo with the electronic base and gets over brilliantly – where the form previously faltered. Here, lines like, “I’ll go up down, Turnaround/ Slap your face, And punch the ground/Put your hands up to the sky,Party rockin’ tonight” come off as anthemic – not derivative – and listeners will not at all feel inclined to wriggle off the hook. In this case, “Chaos In The Magic” is not derivative, it’s ambrosia – and even the stodgiest critics will feel their hearts melt for it. They’ll still be reeling from that hit as “Tear This Apart” begins to open, and the aquatic, almost “Born Slippy”-sounding style about it causes those listening to shift gears with the song effortlessly – and then follow it back up to speed again as it moves. There is an almost hypnotic quality as lines like, “I hate when you’re not sitting here/ I love it when you are/ The room’s lit up by candlelight/ It’s beautiful and dark/ I love when you’re not sitting here/ I hate it when you are/And now she wants her revenge/And I’ll tear this apart” which cause listeners to accept what the band is saying completely at face value, and has a marvellous, suggestive quality which proves to hold strongly through the far more glitchy and generally contradictory sentiments of “Wonderful Horrible” (the song that follows it) too.

After the album’s running to that point, listeners may find themselves more than a little drained by the experience – but MOVIESTARZ still has one cut left and, when “EIAEID” (MOVIESTARZ’s guest spot with Darrian Gerard) listeners will find their dispositions spontaneously brightening again too. There, without much other than the powers they present throughout the album, MOVIESTARZ bid listeners farewell warmly (lines like, “Nothing and everything/ Stays the same/ Put it on replay/ What should i say/ Scenes are changing/ All at once/ Trade it for nothing/ I still had fun” about sum it up and say it all – literally, that’s the song’s entire lyric sheet) and give listeners just one last three-minute farewell before the stylus lifts. It’s a perfectly satisfying end – and a surprising one for an untested group; here, MOVIESTARZ express restraint and give listeners what they need to make their introduction. The band gives listeners just enough – which leaves them wanting more, after they’ve heard it. [Bill Adams]

Artist:
https://www.moviestarzzzz.com/
https://www.instagram.com/moviestarzzzz/?hl=en

Album:
MOVIESTARZ’s Fantasy > Reality LP is out now. Buy it here, at the band’s official store.

The post Vinyl Vlog 684 appeared first on Ground Control Magazine.

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the limited edition Girly-Sound To Guyville 7LP Box Set by Liz Phair. I confess that, when I first read about Liz Phair’s Girly-Sound cassettes in the SPIN Alternative Record Guide about thirty years ago (even in that, they only drew a passing mention in favor of focusing on Exile In Guyville and Whipsmart) , the whole idea sounded like an exercise in urban myth-making. Not that I hadn’t seen or heard an indie cassette before, it’s just that I hadn’t heard one which ultimately lead to anything before (not yet, anyway); and that I was supposed to believe these cassettes were “where it all started” for Liz Phair felt far out of reach.

Eventually, I did hear those Girly-Sound cassettes with the help of Napster though, and I discovered that what I’d heard was true; the Girly-Sound cassettes are excellent in spite of the sound quality of those downloads being less than stellar and the absence of cover art or, really, anything else to look at left a fair bit wanting about the experience, overall. Remedies for those shortcomings were parcelled out over time (some of the Girly-Sound songs appeared on the Juvenalia EP first in 1995, then a bunch more were made available on the reissue of Exile In Guyville that came out on ATO records in 2008, and some appeared on the second disc of Liz Phair’s Funstyle album in 2010 too) which were always warmly received like gifts which had stalled in, or otherwise diverted by, the mail, but the general absence of a complete presentation always loomed. Sure – the music was always good to hear, but that fans were always aware of the fact that there were pieces missing from those care packages always hung like a kind of malevolent darkness in the corners of the experience as a whole. Eventually, it began to seem like someone was holding Girly-Sound hostage – and would let fans know they were getting a gift in the listening experience, but they were getting that gift on someone else’s terms. Some listeners who were aware of that act of withholding of the music they wanted so dearly may have started to feel like Oliver Twist to every record label’s Fagan – listeners always wanted more, but it was not in any record label’s nature or best interest to give everything away.

With the Girly-Sound To Guyville 7LP Box Set, Matador Records has finally – finally – given fans what they’ve hoped so dearly for, for so long. In this set, fans finally get to learn all about the Girly-Sound cassettes properly – that there were three tapes released (entitled Yo Yo Buddy Yup Yup Word to Ya Muthuh, GIRLSGIRLSGIRLS and Sooty), that the artwork associated with them was simultaneously collegiate and progressive [unlike the cut-and-paste nature of many of the concert posters and indie cassettes of the grunge era which often made the results look like ransom notes, the sketches and caricatures on the Girly-Sound tapes give the impression that time and care were put into their making –ed] and, while the recording was needs-first and production is non-existent, the result leaves a sense of relentless care employed (the tapes were all recorded in the attic of Phair’s home and done when no one else was home to eliminate any unwanted noise that might have been made during the recordings) over an all-consuming need to “just get something out.” The delicacy of the recordings sets up an excellent contrast in the music too; Phair covers a lot of thematic and emotional ground throughout these seven plates, but the focus never deviates and, even so early in her career her authoritative voice never falters. Phair can firmly assert herself as she does on songs like “Fuck And Run,” or try on a different persona completely without completely losing herself to it. That kind of masterful character development and presentation is the sort that many artists work their entire careers to even come close to realizing (see Billy Corgan) but, in this box, listeners get to hear that it arrived fully formed from day one for Phair and, while it would get refined and/or otherwise augmented by Brad Wood when he was helming the production of Exile In Guyville (as was the case for the incendiary “I’ll fuck you and your girlfriend too” like in the Girly-Sound version “Flower,” versus the “…Fuck you and your minions” line as it appeared in the same song on Guyville) and even for Whipsmart, it all starts here as cuts from this set got refined and seeded into both of those albums. With the knowledge of how it would play later in hand, this Girly-Sound to Guyville box set is pretty revelatory for the uninitiated, and absolutely priceless to those long familiar with the material but hoping for a presentation of higher fidelity. [Bill Adams]

Artist:
https://www.lizphair.net/
https://www.instagram.com/lizphairofficial
https://www.facebook.com/lizphairofficia

The post Vinyl Vlog 682 appeared first on Ground Control Magazine.

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Empty Bottles LP by BOGOs. Strictly on the face of it, it’s really, really easy to mistake The BOGOs in general – and their Empty Bottles album in specific – as a novelty. Before listeners hear a note of music from the album, a story has already been told by the glaringly bright and garish color scheme which dominates the album’s artwork and is neatly supported by the collection of liquor bottles on the front cover, the cut-out photos of the band’s members on the back cover and the list of song titles which includes “Hide In A Hole,” “Head Through The Wall” and “Dishwasher Blues.” When the music plays, there’s more than a little novelty about it too; in part because of the kinetic energy put into the music as well as singer Ädu Bogo’s thick accent and the fact that the members of this very European band have chosen to name themselves in a very Ramones sort of way, comparisons to everyone’s favorite and longest-lived original New York punk band as well as to Gogol Bordello are very easy to make and might cause them to take the music pretty lightly – but doing so is unwise. In fact, what listeners will discover they’re getting from BOGOs and Empty Bottles is an album which doesn’t just suggest that it deserves attention in some coy or contrived way, both the band and the music they make here commands it.

After needle catches groove and “Farewell To E Morricone” wordlessly sets the tone for the album with some passably on-key whistling, surfy, vibrato-touched guitar and some startlingly solid banjo pickin’, listeners may have to stifle some dubious smirks but, when the drums lock in anf push the song into gear, listeners’ mindset will spontaneously shift with it. Suddenly, about thirty-seconds in, the minor chords and a rhythm which never flinches again redeem the cut as well as listeners’ first impressions, and bait their interest before the cut closes, and will have them waiting to see where the band is going with this.

…And does the band ever reward listeners’ patience as soon as “Hide In A Hole” opens with a title chant. There, all the elements which were really only previously implied push right into listeners’ collective face as singer/guitarist Ädu Bogo (yes, like The Ramones and lots of other bands before them, BOGOs have all taken the same surname) begins to show listeners his nervous, melodic strength, and the band (Andri on banjo, Ritchu on bass and Mitchu on drums – each answering to Bogo) amps up their speed and volume in order to show listeners that this sound can work well without a whole lot of effort. Unlike bands of a similar stripe, BOGOs prove that they even get better the louder and looser they go as “Head Through The Wall” there, Ädu tries to recall what could have happened the night before as he counts missing teeth and mistakes he made but has no intention of correcting amid joyful punkabilly strains which skip any extras like solos or a bridge and just dig in before powering out. The results are excellent for the right sensibility; while some may criticize the band for being a little under-developed as they blast forward without much follow-through (read: the song goes nowhere – and does it at an incredible speed in a “Hey – look what we can do!” kind of way, while omitting a lot of the content usually required to make a great song) but, SOMEHOW, the band makes it work and keeps listeners sustained.

While BOGOs throw out a few other throwaway songs as the side progresses (“Can’t Take It” lives down to its name), they also manage to land a solid hits, through the side. Particular standouts include “Protection,” which sounds moodier than you’d expect coming from any kind of punk band, and “Whiskey and a Cigar,” which really goes out of its way to articulate every sound and every note as it digs its way along [I honestly had to check the speed on my turntable because the speed sounded off, at first – but, before long, listeners realize that the band is going out of its way to almost sound over-articulated without sounding like it’s dragging its feet –ed].

It’s funny but, while the side seems to go out of its way to cover as many sonic bases as it can within the span of eight songs, it also seeks to close on an “up” note. Similar to how the A-side opened, “Dishwasher Blues” closes the side with a really smooth and speedy blast. There, BOGOs go out of their way to make it feel like a conclusion as both the music and vocal melody tightly rock out closing sounds very similar to “Merry-Go-Round Broke Down” [the closing to every Warner Bros. Cartoon, for those who don’t know –ed]. For his part, Ädu BOGO adds greater fire to that sense of finality with the lines, “Last Friday night, I had my first job/ I was playing in a bar, next to a barbershop/ But I run out of gas, for my ride back home/ I had to washing dishes, the whole night long” which leaves an even mix of humor and heartache as an aftertaste, but that flavor will also leave listeners waiting by their turntables to catch the end of the side and flip the record seamlessly – so none of the sensation gets left to get stale.

The B-side of Empty Bottles answers the heartache leftover at the close of the album’s A-side by opening with some great tension in the title track. While the song’s mix leaves a little to be desired (the song itself may remind some listeners of NOFX’s Pump Up The Valuum and War on Errorism period in styling, but is missing Ryan Greene’s talents as producer to really get the sound over – so, instead, listeners start to feel good about what they’re hearing but, frankly, not quite good enough. Luckily though, “Liar” recoups the ground that the album’s title track lost by going back to the band’s comfort zone with rockabilly guitars and banjo blazing before “Money” more clearly shows off the quality in Ädu’s vocals without factoring in more rasp than necessary. The sum of those successes make the absolutely repugnant turn that “Patriot Song” takes (this critic has had more than his fill of flag-waving bullshit – regardless of the colors on the flag – which flies contrarily to the anti-establishment stance that punk has taken, at its best, anyway) forgivable only as far as listeners are willing to forget about it – which sort of holds the late-playing of the B-side together until the side closes. Granted, it can’t be denied that the sadder and more laden tone of “Going Down” illustrates another tone that BOGOs are capable of producing well enough, the problem is just that the second half of the B-side just disperses too wide, and the weaker songs are more memorable than the strong ones.

So, standing back from it after listeners have run front-to-back with it, one must trying to figure out what the consensus is for the Empty Bottles LP, the easiest way to say it is to say that it’s a respectable effort – because it’s BOGOs’ first album, they’re trying a little of everything to see what’ll work, and the results on this album of what does and does not. If they reappear with another offering, here’s hoping that they learned some lessons from this release and showcase that. Simply said, Empty Bottles does have promise – but they’ll have to work to better realize it next time, no matter how far the band might want to repel away from that spirit. [Bill Adams]

Artist:
https://bogos.ch/?fbclid=IwY2xjawOW1fxleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFudG1uSldmY0FZM24ycFRGc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHs43Ha00A8CxQcjEZCj8Z7mUybAiB-cBkZk9gK2_NhkJLP6UBQJhwSlt2WtE_aem_WLcitiRpHWIPCRW4Ih47Hg&brid=MmQxS5PF45gPorUcy2pV1w
https://voodoorhythm.com/cms/?view=article&id=286:bogos&catid=150
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064002164729&sk=about
https://www.instagram.com/bogosbern

Album:
BOGOs’ Empty Bottles LP is out now. Buy it here, from Voodoo Rhythm Records.

The post Vinyl Vlog 679 appeared first on Ground Control Magazine.

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the “The Beast” b/w “Rebecca” split 7” single by The Drowns and Wonk Unit. Perhaps just to prove how versatile they can be, The Drowns’ “other” recently-released split 7” single (shared this time with Wonk Unit) illustrates just how far the band can stray from their established punk pedigree and steer into something closer to rockabilly without crashing, terribly. Some fans will scoff at such a change and they’re well within their rights to do so (I did) – after having played punk rock so well for so long, embarking on such a change is a little baffling and, when one hears it, listeners will find that their confusion has yet to be relieved.

In fact, fans may have to actively resist the urge to blink, flinch or recoil after needle catches groove and “The Beast” settles in to open the A-sde of the single. They’ll be surprised when reverb-touched appear to have replaced the chunky punk that characterized the band’s previous output, and made to question what band they’re hearing when vocals lines like, “There’s a sound on the wind like a nuclear bomb/ But the noxious smell is the thick of the fog” play through, because they sound just about as far from what fans expect of The Drowns as it’s possible to get – and there doesn’t appear to be any relief in sight. When extended vowels hang in the mix through the chorus, listeners will finally realize that this is no joke – and that previous confusion will be replaced by frustration. Granted, there’s no question that The Drowns have the chops to carry what they’re doing on this single off, but fans will eventually come to the conclusion that what they’re hearing is neither what they need nor what they want to hear from the band – and will be happy when this three-minute mistake ends.

…Except the experiment represented by “The Beast” proves not to be concluded as listeners switch sides and, while expecting a brand of hardcore that Wonk Unit are famous for, are met with something that could easily be mistaken for melodic new wave. For two minutes and fifty-five seconds, listeners will find that they’re being gently patted with lean, sinewy punk which features a smattering of keyboards on top where they were actually hoping to get their faces melted and their senses battered. Granted, the sound isn’t bad but, again, it’s not at all what any fan expects from this band. It’s so far from normal, in fact, that some listeners might be left wondering if the wrong single was inserted into the wrong sleeve at the factory and, if not, wonder what the hell happened to those bands to make them change so dramatically. That was certainly the condition in which this critic was left – so much so that I went online to find the songs there – to confirm that they were, in fact, the same songs. Rest assured that the songs were the same, and I was left to wonder what the point of this single was – and for that question I was left no answer. [Bill Adams]

Artist:
https://thedrownsrock.com
https://www.facebook.com/thedrowns
https://www.instagram.com/thedrowns/?hl=en
https://wonkunit.com
https://www.facebook.com/wonkunitband
https://wonk-unit.bandcamp.com

Album:
The “The Beast” b/w “Rebecca” (Split 7” single) is out now. Buy it here on bandcamp.

The post Vinyl Vlog 678 appeared first on Ground Control Magazine.

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into Bambara’s Birthmarks LP. Frances Bacon may have famously claimed that, “In order for the light to shine so brightly, the darkness must be present,” but he couldn’t possibly have accounted for the darkness sounding as fine as it does on Birthmarks, Bambara’s fifth studio album. Bands like The Dirty Three might ring bells in comparable quality, but they are all similar only in perfectly abstract terms and prove it as, for the thirty-three minutes that it takes to run front-to-back with the album, listeners will get acquainted with the notion that not all things are easy to quantify as just “light” or “dark.”

The sense of confusion outlined above becomes perfectly self-evident right away as needle catches groove and an ominous drone opens “Hiss,” but that color immediately begins to change after Reid Bateh steps to the mic and offers a melody that is simultaneously cathartic and dimly intoned. Listeners may find themselves frozen in place as the song unfolds and they try to figure out if they should feel uplifted or terrified by the creeping bass line and Bateh’s deep, haunting vocals. Listeners may feel the hairs on their collective necks begin to rise, and the spell only gets broken by Emma Acs’ warmer and more welcoming vocal contribution to the song’s second verse. Even with that change in play though, listeners will still be unnerved by what they’ve experienced when the song finally draws to a close at the four-minute, sixteen-second mark.

After “Hiss” has left listeners off-balance, the going gets a little more gothic after Bateh clears his throat and launches “Letters From Sing Sing” into motion. There, Bateh swears to listeners that there is no violence in his heart – but a great and fantastically propulsive bass line instantly calls that claim into question. Listeners will find themselves won easily as a horn section enters the mix and adds a manic color to it too – and they’ll be left just spinning by song’s end; it is truly just spectacular.

As the side progresses, Bambara lightens ever so slightly and touches upon some spoken word ground as well as some trip hop flavoring similar to that which Poe did on her Haunted albumwhen the band looks at “Face Of Love” with some help from Midwife, and then dives deep into gothic rock with a hint of Smashing Pumpkins (circa Adore) showing too in “Pray To Me,” where the band remains through “Holy Bones” before finally beginning to see some light (and relief) right before the side closes and needle lifts following the play of “Elena’s Dream.” There, amid atonal-sounding horns and surprisingly pretty chimes, listeners will find their nerves being gently soothed as Madeline Johnston tells the story of discovering a snake’s nest in the woods, her friend being bitten and meeting her end. Somehow, the sound is incredibly sublime even if it is short and that brevity will have listeners rushing to their turntables to flip the record over to discover what more they may find. Granted, given the fairly insular nature of their experience through the album’s A-side, listeners might not understand what the rush could possibly be, but they also can’t deny it.

…And, on the B-side, they find more of the surprisingly affecting serum that hooked listeners on the A-. In “Because You Asked,” Bateh returns with some more lyrical anguish, but Bria Salmena adds some warmer and more hopeful backup vocals too – which keeps the song from sinking completely in its sadness. “Dive Shrine” follows with more frenetic tempos that both the song and the band wear better than the more moribund sounds that have defined the album to that point but, again, that highlight is short-lived as “Smoke” sinks back into slower tempos and insular sentiments. That turn back into misery would be understandable enough – given the overall nature of the album as a whole but, seemingly just to confuse matters one more time, “Loretta” gets set up on spare, pre-programmed drums and runs through what is easily one of the best and more typically gothic rock cuts on the album. There, those who have been consistently trying to find some stable footing throughout the album’s running will finally be rewarded as the song’s scarifying rhythm locks in throws listeners around a racetrack – leaving them completely uncertain at every turn. For his part, Bateh turns in another excellent, Nick Cave-inspired vocal performance, and lines like, “’Jake Saint lived his life like his namesake’/ His wife, Mae, eulogized with a laugh/ After the wake, she pried open his suitcase/ Found a knife and a stash of women’s photographs/ Typists with their lipstick kissed off/ Fingers and thumbs, like guns, pressed to their temples/ Said to her daughter, Loretta/ ‘If there’s anything you’ll miss, grab it”’ come dangerously close to derailing the proceedings again, but still feel solid and satisfying somehow, at both song’s and album’s end.

And, when the needle does lift, listeners may find that they’re just as confused by the album’s end as they were by its’ beginning. By definition, the way it plays – its refusal to find a consistent energy or sound, its defiance of conventional structure or form – make Birthmarks incredibly frustrating, but that inability to peg it down easily will get listeners to run through the entirety of Birthmarks again – and then again and again. When they stand back from it, listeners who have experienced Birthmarks will find that they hope Bambara will return with a more consistent record but, even if they don’t do that, those same listeners will just hope that the band returns with another album. [Bill Adams]

Artist:
https://www.bambaranyc.com
https://www.facebook.com/BAMBARA.band
https://www.instagram.com/bambaraband
https://www.youtube.com/user/BAMBARAband

Album:
Bambara’s Birthmarks LP is out now on Wharf Cat/Bella Union. Buy it here, on the band’s official website.

The post Vinyl Vlog 676 appeared first on Ground Control Magazine.