RECOMMENDED
Even those with active new music intake can only hope to hear about five to ten records of this power and transcendence in one lifetime. So, I’m torn between two or twenty-eight different attitudes when faced with the task of actually reviewing something like this. One of them goes like this: “There might be art I will never be qualified to comment on. Yep, face it, Mr. Summer School AFTER 12th Grade In Order To Genuinely Graduate in….the…..hou…” And another goes like this: “Is this some sort of a joke or a ‘90’ reissue that is doing exactly what the reissue game is supposed to do (unearth brilliance that was overlooked the first time around)?” That I might be suspicious of something this consummately uplifting and powerful is 100% commentary on the sad state of affairs elsewhere on the tunes-ville landscape…or is it? The weird and terrifying degradation of underground rock – it is finally happening in an Illuminati sense despite the crying-wolf nature of saying so in public and despite the fact that no one will really believe me or you if this happens to be an adopted party-line in the near future – has not brainwashed me into some peanut-butter cognitive mush that hugs and embraces and spews superlative soup all over anything that simply DOESN’T SUCK. No, this album is one of the best ten long-players I’ve ever heard within the context of contemporary….aka “post-1985” underground rock/hardcore/punk/indie/noise-rock, etc. And that’s it. What awaits those lucky enough to get their hands on one of the remaining (??) 300 copies? Imagine if Cop Shoot Cop had GBV hooks along with the best moments of Scott Walker singing into the heavens. It’s a drummer (oh, what a drummer…), a vocalist/percussionist (playing what is probably a
stand-up kit rather than this being a double-drummer set-up) and a bassist playing the fucking instrument like Lou Barlow taught everyone who was listening and properly processing Dinosaur Jr’s You’re Living All Over Me (an album also in that aforementioned top ten). Get this. Hear this. This is the sound of hope and inspiration and it made me feel something I wasn’t ever planning to feel again. (http://www.northernlibertiesband.com)
(Andrew Earles)