|
Fourteen years ago, Crain, an art-punk
quartet hailing from Louisville, Kentucky, recorded
their debut album in Steve Albini’s basement
on an eight track. They released - and quickly sold
- 1000 vinyl copies of the results early the following
year and went on to release one more album before
breaking up in 1996 before their third full-length
could be completed.
Temporary Residence Ltd, recognizing the kind
of frustration only armies of DIY punk kids convinced
they’re missing an essential record can
experience, are now releasing Speed, the long
lost debut, on CD for the first time, with an
additional four tracks of unreleased material
thrown in for good measure.
Speed is a record very
much of the time, and on first listen you’ll
be hard pushed to find anything worth getting
particularly excited about. These are songs very
much in the early Fugazi/ Sebadoh vein - rough
around the edges, brooding, haphazard, abrasive.
A bit of jangly guitar here, a spot of wailing
there, some unpredictable time changes and a fair
amount of thudding drums and explosive guitar
parts later and you’ve got a complete but
decidedly disheveled package.
The wonderful thing about Speed though
is that it creeps up on you. Put it in the right
context and it all makes sense; several listens
in and new complexities reveal themselves; the
songs open up, taking you to ever greater depths
and slowly but surely you learn to love them…possibly
not worth waiting over a decade for, but very
worthwhile nonetheless.
www.temporaryresidence.com
Rae Alexandra, March 11, 2005
See More Reviews at our
Music Review Archive
|
