Various Artists
"Card-Carrying Supporters of
Romance" CD
Blackbean & Placenta, Morc Tapes
Genre: lo-fi, DIY, pop
June 2008 |
This weird old comp from long-standing DIY labels
Morc Tapes and Blackbean & Placenta offers up a wonderful sample of
music from the hometaping underground, including material from indie
stars Appendix Out and Fuck and lo-fi stalwarts Gang
Wizard and Will Simmons. I dug it up recently and have been
enjoying the bulk of it, although some of the songs do drag the comp
down a little. In short... GREAT: Fuck's
enchanting singalong, "22 no"; Zent One's dark guitar
atmospherics on "Have Some More Carrots," Persons oddballery,
Gang Wizard vs. Wio = crazy, Appendix Out being quirky
GOOD: Will Simmons' lo-fi pop, Jen
Turrell's confessional bedroom stuff
BAH: The 100 Lists' go-nowhere lo-fi
mediocrity, The Ordinary Seaman's acontextual instrumental
tomfoolery,
DIY comps are intended to be inconsistent and to
present a wide array of sounds, and Card-Carrying Supporters of
Romance keeps in line with that approach. Particularly impressive
is that this strikes a fine balance between pop and experimentation,
with even the most out-there offerings (Ordinary Seaman,
Gang Wizard, Zent One) keeping things relatively melodic
and tuneful. A few duds could be singled out for taunting, but in the spirit of a good old comp,
I like to focus on all the
great obscure material I'd otherwise never get my paws on.
76%
mp3:
will
simmons - take two steps to the right
Matt Shimmer
[Vitals: 20 tracks, distributed by
toneVENDOR,
released June 23, 2001] |