Henry over at Chunklet put up a
post recently, pointing out the scarcity of good-to-great 10" records (which quickly de-evolved into a "name every 10-inch record you've ever heard of" competition in the comment string, but that's alright), and that prompted me to dig out and post one of my favorite 10"-ers of all time: "Some Girls Like Cigarettes", by the Karl Hendricks Trio.
I'm pretty sure that the Karl Hendricks Trio are one of the most seriously undervalued outfits to take shape in the 90's, which you can judge for yourself by listening to the tracks I've posted here (and by seeking out their stuff through Merge, which is mostly all still available digitally and why I won't be keeping these tracks up for very long). When Karl Hendricks goes for The Big Rock, it sounds like Thee Speaking Canaries trying to swallow My Dad Is Dead whole; when he takes it back a bit, you're still left with a bleeding mess of comic despair. I mean, "The Last Thing You'll Ever Do For Me", with a guy asking his girlfriend to kill him off after she dumps him, is just funny ("Hold me down, kiss me, cut my throat... you can always change the sheets after I'm dead"). And who else would you say writes songs more beautiful yet-still rocking than "It Could Be A Miracle" or "If This Song Was A Cigarette"? The fucking Pixies? Give up.
Karl Hendricks Trio -
"Some Girls Like Cigarettes"
"It Could Be A Miracle"
"If This Song Was A Cigarette"
"Ducky"
"The Last Thing You'll Ever Do For Me"
(these files are now listen-only)
