Wednesday, October 17, 2007
smegma
since i've owed anarchymoon's bob bellerue a few reviews for awhile now, i'll push his recent package to me up towards the top of the queue.
the smell remains the same (singles '90-'95) 12"
[2007, anarchymoon]
smegma is a seminal experimental group currently operating out of portland, oregon. they've been around since 1973, and have had more than a handful of members pass through their ranks. their current line-up is amazon bambi, oblivia (aka rock'n'roll jackie), dr. id, burned mind, ju suk reet meate, borneo jimmy (richard meltzer) and vibra
band. seeing as how this record captures a five year period in the band's thirty-four year existence, i doubt that that was the personnel for these recordings. i think meltzer joined the band in the latter part of the '90s. oblivia, bambi, dr. id and meate were definitely involved, that much i know thanks to david morgan's overview / review included on the lp's sleeve.
the smell remains the same is a compilation of smegma's seven inch releases from, you guessed it! 1990-1995. one of the things that i found pretty fucking cool (and a little odd) is that a few of these singles were originally released by the long running (and rad) sympathy for the record industry. sftri, in the red and damaged goods are easily my favorite garage rock oriented labels.
bands like sun city girls, caroliner and smegma are ones where it takes someone sending me something of theirs for me to actually listen. this is despite the fact that i have numerous albums from all three on my hard drive. they're attributed with being "weird" or "difficult", and musically schizophrenic. not only that, but they have rather sizable discographies. if they refuse to settle into one easily identifiable music genre, i'm not really sure which releases to start with, and would rather not listen to anything then have to wade through a bunch of stuff that i might not like (admittedly, i'm pretty fucking picky) in order to get to the albums that i would. too time consuming. so, i'm really happy that bob sent this to me. it's the perfect wake-up call.
the music contained on these ten tracks are a pleasing mixture of structured rock, freer experimentation and dadaist blather. for the most part these are pretty disjointed, though there's definitely some cross-over between the latter two. as for the rock songs, first up is swamp dick. killer fucking southern, erm, swamp rock. jackie's lazy drawl syncing up perfectly with the bassline. i particularly liked the stop and start rhythm of it. musically, it's not hard to picture this track coming from the cramps or the gun club. lyrically, it's story-telling. instead of your basic verse chorus verse, the catchiness of the music itself is the hook. the next rocker won't come until the eighth track, walkie talkie, but it's a great one. this is essentially a three and a half minute jammer. there's some nice, but not domineering, caterwauling from one of the ladies, which wonderfully compliments the occasional guitar squeals from ju suk reet meate. the closer, thicket, also has a southern fried flavor to it. that's aided by rooster samples in the beginning, but the male singing is in an bible belt-like manner, which has something to do with the lyrics, but i pay more attention to the music and the sound of the vocals than i do to what's actually being said. it's less air-guitar worthy; slower, more evenly keeled and features another good bassline along with some twangy and looser guitar playing. i absolutely love those galloping guitar licks.
now, on to the experimental stuff. l.s.d. bomb implements a repeating sample of "marijuana is the flame, heroin is the fuse, lsd is the bomb". this will become more and more manipulated as the track plays on until it gets affected into oblivion. afterwards, other samples will pop up. along with this, there's saxophone playing, light electronic accompaniment, and screechy instrumentation. it's these improvised tracks, sans vocals, that i liked the most, out of the non-rock set. fish story, again uses samples. i'm digging this one a bit more, mostly because of the panned, repetitious electronics and background synth drone. jackie's turntable manipulations are a nice touch as well. the structured base worked nicely with the freer instrumentation and made me think of crawlspace, a little bit. yes your majesty will combine sampling with repetitious bass guitar chords, unobtrusive guitar noise and random metal tinkling sounds, which provide the only percussion. boils and carbuncles is the last of the less weird experimental pieces. here, i really like the organic instrumentation, particularly from the drummer. the sample that they've chosen is of a more musical variety (delightfully catchy, and not overused) and suits smegma's music perfectly. this one has discernible vocals. they're pretty nonsensical, but didn't detract from my enjoyment of the music.
the more experimental tracks which feature vocals: change me and vox, are my least favorite on the album. musically, change me isn't too far removed from any of the other pieces. there's sparse instrumentation as well as good multi-channel usage, but i can't get into the lyrics with an adult woman talking about having her diapers changed. supposedly, there's a double meaning having to do with religion, but i'm not much for veiled metaphors. with vox, as you can gather from the title, the focus is on people using their voices. it sounds like everyone's talking and making sounds with their mouth at the same time. meh. some experiments in sound are more successful than others. this one's just a bit to inane for me.
listening to the smell remains the same, it's clear that these guys (and gals) were pushing the proverbial envelope, but my favorite aspect of this band has to be the fact that when they choose to play rock music, they're fucking great. granted, the lyrics and "singing" style are still unconventional, but you can't take anything away from their musical talent. conversely, when they want to be weird, they can be fucking weird. it's really the best of both worlds. while i can't say that i was a fan of everything that they were doing on these tracks, i can say that what i did like makes me want to seek out more of their material. i'm won over.
Swamp Dick
smegma @ no fun fest; brooklyn, ny 2006
the smell remains the same (singles '90-'95) 12"
[2007, anarchymoon]
smegma is a seminal experimental group currently operating out of portland, oregon. they've been around since 1973, and have had more than a handful of members pass through their ranks. their current line-up is amazon bambi, oblivia (aka rock'n'roll jackie), dr. id, burned mind, ju suk reet meate, borneo jimmy (richard meltzer) and vibra
band. seeing as how this record captures a five year period in the band's thirty-four year existence, i doubt that that was the personnel for these recordings. i think meltzer joined the band in the latter part of the '90s. oblivia, bambi, dr. id and meate were definitely involved, that much i know thanks to david morgan's overview / review included on the lp's sleeve.the smell remains the same is a compilation of smegma's seven inch releases from, you guessed it! 1990-1995. one of the things that i found pretty fucking cool (and a little odd) is that a few of these singles were originally released by the long running (and rad) sympathy for the record industry. sftri, in the red and damaged goods are easily my favorite garage rock oriented labels.
bands like sun city girls, caroliner and smegma are ones where it takes someone sending me something of theirs for me to actually listen. this is despite the fact that i have numerous albums from all three on my hard drive. they're attributed with being "weird" or "difficult", and musically schizophrenic. not only that, but they have rather sizable discographies. if they refuse to settle into one easily identifiable music genre, i'm not really sure which releases to start with, and would rather not listen to anything then have to wade through a bunch of stuff that i might not like (admittedly, i'm pretty fucking picky) in order to get to the albums that i would. too time consuming. so, i'm really happy that bob sent this to me. it's the perfect wake-up call.
the music contained on these ten tracks are a pleasing mixture of structured rock, freer experimentation and dadaist blather. for the most part these are pretty disjointed, though there's definitely some cross-over between the latter two. as for the rock songs, first up is swamp dick. killer fucking southern, erm, swamp rock. jackie's lazy drawl syncing up perfectly with the bassline. i particularly liked the stop and start rhythm of it. musically, it's not hard to picture this track coming from the cramps or the gun club. lyrically, it's story-telling. instead of your basic verse chorus verse, the catchiness of the music itself is the hook. the next rocker won't come until the eighth track, walkie talkie, but it's a great one. this is essentially a three and a half minute jammer. there's some nice, but not domineering, caterwauling from one of the ladies, which wonderfully compliments the occasional guitar squeals from ju suk reet meate. the closer, thicket, also has a southern fried flavor to it. that's aided by rooster samples in the beginning, but the male singing is in an bible belt-like manner, which has something to do with the lyrics, but i pay more attention to the music and the sound of the vocals than i do to what's actually being said. it's less air-guitar worthy; slower, more evenly keeled and features another good bassline along with some twangy and looser guitar playing. i absolutely love those galloping guitar licks.
now, on to the experimental stuff. l.s.d. bomb implements a repeating sample of "marijuana is the flame, heroin is the fuse, lsd is the bomb". this will become more and more manipulated as the track plays on until it gets affected into oblivion. afterwards, other samples will pop up. along with this, there's saxophone playing, light electronic accompaniment, and screechy instrumentation. it's these improvised tracks, sans vocals, that i liked the most, out of the non-rock set. fish story, again uses samples. i'm digging this one a bit more, mostly because of the panned, repetitious electronics and background synth drone. jackie's turntable manipulations are a nice touch as well. the structured base worked nicely with the freer instrumentation and made me think of crawlspace, a little bit. yes your majesty will combine sampling with repetitious bass guitar chords, unobtrusive guitar noise and random metal tinkling sounds, which provide the only percussion. boils and carbuncles is the last of the less weird experimental pieces. here, i really like the organic instrumentation, particularly from the drummer. the sample that they've chosen is of a more musical variety (delightfully catchy, and not overused) and suits smegma's music perfectly. this one has discernible vocals. they're pretty nonsensical, but didn't detract from my enjoyment of the music.the more experimental tracks which feature vocals: change me and vox, are my least favorite on the album. musically, change me isn't too far removed from any of the other pieces. there's sparse instrumentation as well as good multi-channel usage, but i can't get into the lyrics with an adult woman talking about having her diapers changed. supposedly, there's a double meaning having to do with religion, but i'm not much for veiled metaphors. with vox, as you can gather from the title, the focus is on people using their voices. it sounds like everyone's talking and making sounds with their mouth at the same time. meh. some experiments in sound are more successful than others. this one's just a bit to inane for me.
listening to the smell remains the same, it's clear that these guys (and gals) were pushing the proverbial envelope, but my favorite aspect of this band has to be the fact that when they choose to play rock music, they're fucking great. granted, the lyrics and "singing" style are still unconventional, but you can't take anything away from their musical talent. conversely, when they want to be weird, they can be fucking weird. it's really the best of both worlds. while i can't say that i was a fan of everything that they were doing on these tracks, i can say that what i did like makes me want to seek out more of their material. i'm won over.
Swamp Dick
:: posted by avant gardening, 1:06 PM