Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Going From Parallel To Perilous

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This here is some amazing shit, and I know it seems like I say that about everything I post (except for maybe that Noiseville comp-- shit was terrible), but in this case I mean it. If "Strungout On Jargon" doesn't make it into my top ten records of all time, well, the competition's pretty fierce-- hell, it might not even make it into the top ten Homestead releases of 1986, if only because the Dogmatics record was just that friggin' good* (and I may never get back the $8.98 I spent on "Break It Up", either, I'm just starting to find out now).

But seriously, though, this is some amazing shit. I've yet to nail down John Petkovic's delivery, how he sounds like he's making up the words as he goes along (apparently Death of Samantha recorded this album live in six hours-- okay, sure) or else he's about ready to break into a croon at any minute, but that's half the party. It's hard not to chuckle when Petkovic shouts, "Hey, Jim Krane, check this one out!" as the intro to "Bed of Fire" (one of the tracks I've left off here, you'll have to own the album to hear it), or when he completes a line by actually saying "he completes the line" in "Simple as That". "Take this from simple soul", there's another one.

Petkovic may wander but he knows what he's doing, as all the songs here clock in at around a tidy three minutes or less, save "Couldn't Forget 'bout that (one item)", which is pretty great anyway. It all comes down to Doug Gillard's amazing guitar playing, and Steve-O's drumming, which at times can be suprisingly fluid and rock solid, I mean, for a guy who's probably wearing a muumuu. I might not have listened to enough Velvet Underground or Pere Ubu or Rocket From The Tombs growing up, but at least I knew what they sounded like, and besides, Death of Samantha came along and brought them all together, which saved me the trouble.

"Coca Cola & Licorice" and "Simple as That", the two lead-off tracks, also appeared as singles; I'd posted the "Coca Cola & Licorice" 45 a while ago, but the LP rip is better (the 45 crackles), so forget about the other one.

*that's a joke, son, The Dogmatics really sucked


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Death of Samantha -

"Coca Cola & Licorice"

"Simple as That"

"Ham & Eggs 99c"

"Conviction"

"Grapeland (I'm getting sick)"

"Sexual Dreaming"

"Couldn't Forget 'bout that (one item)"

(these files are now listen-only)


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13 comments:

Evan said...

i know this is entirely unrelated to your blog post, but last week you left a comment on my page asking about merge and matador.

just received a take-down notice from matador today, and posted it over at my blog on the "SUNDAY MIX TAPE 106" entry. see for yourself!

Brushback said...

Y'know, I'd rather get a letter from Matador's hired guns saying "thanks for supporting our bands, but we'd rather people buy 256 kbps files from us" than deal with Touch and Go's way of erasing files without warning and threatening copyright infringement charges.

I mean, I hope they're going after the people that post entire CDs that aren't even a year or two old without even bothering to write a paragraph, just "click to download here". That stuff ticks me off.

Luckily, so far almost all of the bands and labels that have contacted me through the blog have been positive-- helpful, even.

ib said...

I have to agree with Brushback, Evan.

Even I've had my brush with polite hired assassins, with regard to Van Morrison; ONE single 40+ yeard old track at that. Oh well. I figure Van can make it financially without my help. It's so well known, anyway, that any visitor can just hum along over the deleted link.

How were Touch & Go able to erase the files directly from your server ? That is morally questionable, if not positively unlawful. I know about the threatened copyright infringement charge ; I take it they have not attempted to pursue it ?

Back to Death Of Samantha. Pretty good. Great in parts, but I was never a big fan of the B-52s, and there's maybe as much as a hint of them in the mix as there is Pere Ubu.

Some really nice pop tones in there, though. And the titles are swell, too.

Brushback said...

ib, I'm not sure if your question is directed at me, or Evan; I've never been threatened by Touch and Go, I've only read about it through various places like the Electric Audio message board and Evan's blog.

Anyone's able to have a file deleted pretty easily-- just complain about it to the host (Box, Rapidshare, whomever), and they'll take it down without even really questioning it.

Touch and Go went directly to Box and had them remove a Didjits song that I had ripped, and after that I pre-emptively deleted all of the other Touch and Go bands that were on my Box account.

Evan's blog does seem to be getting singled out lately, though.

ib said...

Yeah, I know about Swan Fungus being hit with shit of late. My question regarding file deletion was really directed at Evan. I wasn't aware that a complaint directed at a the hosting service might result in a file (files) being deleted without prior notification to the individual renting that service. I'm not convinced that it is even legal. Interesting.

I agree with you so far as pre-emptive deletion being the better policy in the event you describe. In my case I was contacted via comment by the Web Sheriff - a U.K. based organisation - and politely asked to remove the link to one individual song. Thereafter, my blog was monitored to make sure I didn't reinstate the link, but it seems altogether more sensible to approach the blogger in the first instance.

The human response, etc.

Brushback said...

B-52's, huh? Are you saying John Petkovic sounds like Fred Schneider? I'd almost take that as an insult, sir!

Death of Samantha have been one of my favorite bands for a long, long time. The B-52's, um, that's not even music.

ib said...

Heh! I thought that would wind you up!

No, actually they are pretty good. "Simple As That" especially.

Brushback said...

I guess "Simple as That" is one of the "pop songs" on the album, or it's the one that draws the stupid R.E.M. comparisons at least. I had the single, so I was sort of worn out on that song by the time the album came out-- but like the rest of the song on the album where Petkovic plays it straight, it's Gillards unconventional guitar playing that saves it.

ib said...

Doug Gillard's guitar is amazing, no doubt about it. Petkovic's vocal delivery is cool too. I really like the very poppy undercurrents.

Brushback said...

Cle rock is like blood to me, like meat and potatoes-- back in the late 80's, if it wasn't some Minneapolis or Chicago band I was listening to, it was some band from Cleveland.

Jersey Beat Podcast said...

Back in the Eighties and Nineties, every so often I'd have a moment of revelation, and think, jesus, this band is so awesome and the guys in it are so cool, and they're my friends. I'm a lucky guy."

death of samantha was one of those bands

Brushback said...

Jim you were friends with Death of Samantha? I never knew that.

I knew Farmertan once, but I guess that's nowhere near as impressive.

Brushback said...

The mp3 files on this post are now listen-only (non-downloadable) files. They've been moved to my Vox account, where I've added one extra song ("Bed of Fire") that wasn't included in the original post. The Vox files are accessible through any of the listen-only links in the post.

For those of you who missed the boat, I will do my best to respond to any e-mailed requests for the original files (though maybe only 3 or 4 songs at a time, since any more than that gets to be a hassle).