This Minneapolis duo seems to not be receiving their due, in spite of the current resurgence of "noisy", "fucked up" and "blown out" punk and hardcore, even calling a luminous label of the style home. Following up a bevy of singles (available on an MLP collection), this eleven-song exercise in ugliness wallows in a veritable ocean of churning, mid-tempo blues-cranked-to-11 grunge punk. The manic, creepy vocals that are the sonic equivocation of contempt match lyrics about torching neighbors houses, self-mutilation, public urination, infidelity and other similarly uncomfortable themes. BASTARDS are generally at their best when they allow the tempo to quicken as on "Bo Diddley" or "The Joy of Gardening" (which is the closest the band comes to the typical punk rant against the faceless "you"), but the definitive track may be the titular closer. The slow groove exemplifies all of the album's most unsettling qualities (the vocalist gets to yowl during the verses and apply something resembling melody to the refrain of "there's something wrong in Monticello"), and the introduction may be the only respite from full volume instrumentation housed anywhere on the record, making it all the more effective. Butch Vig produced this record a scant two years before purportedly contributing to changing the face of popular music, but there are clearly few commercial aspirations involved here. I could not remark with any sort of authority about the last time it was in print, but YOU can download it HERE.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
BASTARDS "MONTICELLO" LP (Glitterhouse, 1989)
This Minneapolis duo seems to not be receiving their due, in spite of the current resurgence of "noisy", "fucked up" and "blown out" punk and hardcore, even calling a luminous label of the style home. Following up a bevy of singles (available on an MLP collection), this eleven-song exercise in ugliness wallows in a veritable ocean of churning, mid-tempo blues-cranked-to-11 grunge punk. The manic, creepy vocals that are the sonic equivocation of contempt match lyrics about torching neighbors houses, self-mutilation, public urination, infidelity and other similarly uncomfortable themes. BASTARDS are generally at their best when they allow the tempo to quicken as on "Bo Diddley" or "The Joy of Gardening" (which is the closest the band comes to the typical punk rant against the faceless "you"), but the definitive track may be the titular closer. The slow groove exemplifies all of the album's most unsettling qualities (the vocalist gets to yowl during the verses and apply something resembling melody to the refrain of "there's something wrong in Monticello"), and the introduction may be the only respite from full volume instrumentation housed anywhere on the record, making it all the more effective. Butch Vig produced this record a scant two years before purportedly contributing to changing the face of popular music, but there are clearly few commercial aspirations involved here. I could not remark with any sort of authority about the last time it was in print, but YOU can download it HERE.
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Don't suppose you have a link to where I could download the EP "You didn't give a damn about the exploding man..."? I had both of these on vinyl but some fucker knackered them on me!
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