|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|||||||||
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
||||||||
 |
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
 |
|||||||||
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Iron Curtain Innocence Secretly Canadian SC-162 CD £9.99 One of the most bewitching and genuinely outside broadcast in modern private press history, the twin set of LPs cut by New England resident Bobb Trimble in the early 80s remain unclassifiable in terms of virtually anything else going on in or outside of the decade in which they were cut. Both LPs are fairly late entries in the annals of post-utopic rock-informed vision (Trimble was a fan of Bowie, The Beatles and Queen fer chrissakes) and as such there are some period flourishes that might put off the most clichéd of primitivists: Trimble was a visionary and arranger on a scale with Skip Spence, Brian Wilson and Blonde On Blonde-era Dylan. As such this record is a flashier real-people blat than, say, Kenneth Higney, yet it retains that whole sense of quest and the feel of one lonesome voice up against the wall and in love with possibility. Right from the cover shot, 1980's Iron Curtain innocence comes across like a more militant and baroque Modern Lovers, with a tough-vulnerability that manifests itself in a suburban garage insurrectionist vibe while penning songs that conflate personal and Biblical notions of apocalypse with deep, complex arrangements, a very feminine falsetto and some classy basement psych moves ala classic nobodies like St.Mikael. One of Heather Leigh Murray's all-time favourite private press bombs, the CD edition comes with liners by Eric Weddle of Family Vineyard. Highly recommended. |
|
|
Peace Love & Alienation Fixed Identity FI-002 12” EP £14.99 Excellent compilation that restores a buncha tracks from this amazing early-80s DIY/basement psych/goofball garage band from Worcester, MA. Peace Love & Alienation bundles a bunch of tracks cut with outsider music legend Bobb Trimble behind the desk as well as live radio sessions and living room recordings. The Prefabs have an umbilical to the UK DIY sound with a riotous Swell Maps/Desperate Bicycles style filtered through an American teen garage aesthetic w/a nod to one-shot weirdos like Department Store Santas. The Trimble-produced tracks are particularly zonked, with a sound that approaches Index’s version of “Eight Miles High” overloaded with backwards bass, wacked tone generator and aggro vocals that are somewhere between The Television Personalities circa The Painted Word and The Afflicted Man. The group shared bills with Mission Of Burma and Willie Alexander back in the day, but even in that company were a real anomaly. The set comes with a 12” insert and a cool fold-out fanzine with original fliers and snaps. A revelatory reissue, highly recommended! |
