Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Thinking In The Grime



I would have a hard time explaining my affinity for G'nu Fuz (a band that I've yet to see live, by the way). Their songs aren't the type of rocking that my ears typically go for, and if G'nu Fuz didn't automatically earn a second look just by the sake of being a local band I probably would've shrugged them off as being too much like the kind of music my parents used to listen to while they were getting stoned. Still, their output has been uniformly excellent, with a genuine craft to their musicianship that even a knothead like me can appreciate, and Joe Roberto has a crystal-clear voice that matches up well with the material. And while I know that's not the kind of write-up that's going to motivate too many people into checking these songs out, fuckit, you're not exactly impressing me, either.

"Sleepytown"/"Rise Before the Fall" was G'nu Fuz' first-ever record, as much as I can tell, and it's probably a factor of pressing 7-minute songs onto 7" of plastic which quiets the sound a lot and brings up every pop and crackle in the vinyl, but these rips are fairly crunchy. Just sit a little bit further away from the speakers, I guess.




G'nu Fuz -

(these files are now listen-only)

"Sleepytown"

"Rise Before the Fall"






8 comments:

Jere said...

My fave part of this blog is seeing all the names of people, bands, etc. that I used to know in Danbury, even though in many cases, as I've admitted before, I knew them way after their initial "fame." Seeing liner notes/sleeves is so fun: Fud! Hed! Trash! Monsterland! The guy who my ex-girlfriend used to go stare at while he served ice cream at Hagen Dazs at the mall because he was just so damn "deep"! (That would be Craig Colaruso--have I brought that up before?) And "Large With Everything" was a show on WXCI, I'm pretty sure.

Brushback said...

Yes, "Large With Everything" was an XCI show - might've even been Greg Vegas?

The rest of what you're talking about is just too much for my brain to handle.

Vegas said...

yep - LARGE WITH EVERYTHING was my show for many a year....
ANOTHER GREAT post Dave. you can download ALL the Gnu Fuzz as part of the "Boxset" here http://www.gnufuz.com/GnuFuzAudio/Box_Set/boxset.htm

tm said...

I think this was my first recording credit...that or the Antiseen at WXCI 7". I remember that we had to drill a hole through the main beam of Joe's mom's house to run all the cables into another room so we'd have some separation between 4 track cassette and band.
I just saw Joe Roberto again for the first time in eons at this years SXSW. He's still playing, sounding great and still rehearsing at that house. And that hole is still there.

Brushback said...

Ha, Thom, that story's a riot. Good thing the house didn't fall down.

Greg brings up a point, which I've also mentioned before on this blog - you can go to the G'nu Fuz web site (gnufuz.com), click on "box set", and there's a bunch of albums available for download. Not this specific single, unfortunately (otherwise I would've substituted the mp3's for my crummy vinyl rips).

One of these days I'm going to pick through all the box set stuff, and maybe highlight it in a post for everyone else.

And, "Hydrogen Jukebox" is a great G'nu Fuz LP, totally recommended. I wish I still had a vinyl copy, I had to settle on buying a replacement copy on CD a bunch of years ago...

jophes said...

I have Hydrogen Jukebox vinyl in my hand.Let me know how to get you a copy.
joe Roberto

Brushback said...

I'd have to find your e-mail so I could send you my street address or something...

Brushback said...

The mp3 files on this post are now listen-only (non-downloadable) files. For those of you who missed the boat, I will do my best to respond to any e-mailed requests for the original files.