Various artists – “Going to Extremes” Vol. 1 – Uneasy Truce Records (part 2) [Album As Art #53]

No time for small talk (or smaller, in-fact-much-smaller talk): Time to usher Part 2 (read Part 1 HERE) of my Going to Extremes Volume 1 (buy/observe further HERE) round-up:

6. K.K. Rampage – “That’s So Dirty”

I’ve always had a soft — yet somewhat harddd? — spot for Johnny Rampage and his gang o’ goons. Wiry, young, intense, frenetic … isn’t that what a hardcore band of castoffs is supposed to be? “That’s So Dirty” is, appropriately, seedy and strangely seductive. The bass is bolstered and kicked up-front, and its interaction with the guitar is legendary, not to mention the drums, which kick, and the vocals, which go fuggin’ apesheet and gurgle up the energy in the room. I can feel the dry air Johnny’s breathin’, and it’s chokin’ my nostrils, man … GETTMEOUTTAHERE. Don’t mistake my seeming critical kindness for weakness, either. Johnny had a lot to do with all of this coming together, but I wouldn’t be friends with him if he didn’t know how to wring every last drop out of rock, then leave it hanging on the clothesline, to be worn out and soiled all over again the next day.

What did the band say, you ask? Thus:

K.K. Rampage is: Johnny Rampage, Brandon Bordenkircher, and Ben Fairbank

Band location: Chicago, IL   (both bands)

– name of new/latest album(s): Tarantismo Summit Volume 1 Compilation featuring K.K. Rampage, Smegma, Ghost Moth, and Insect Joy, and and Metalux / K.K.Rampage 12″ split

Lyrics? … Nooooooo; Johnny doesn’t normally give them out, and that’s more than cool with me …

————————

7. Smegma – “Playpen”

The biggest surprise of the compilation process was finding a submitted Smegma track glued to my inbox before few if any words had been exchanged. Led by Ju Suk Reet Meate, Smegma (who are the subject of a great write-up in the latest issue of The Wire magazine) began forming life-sized music collages around the early ’70s or so and show no signs of slowing down, having cut LPs, CD-Rs, tapes and other delicious things at a moment’s notice, seemingly every few weeks. “Playpen” — though I guess I’d understand if you don’t take my word for it — is my favorite all-time Smegma track. It’s got that off-the-cuff feeling, and yet you can tell listening to it combust that there was a moment captured here, some serious inspiration leaking through the boisterous clarinet wailing and circular synth squiggs. I keep mentioning the cantina band in the first Star Wars movie in my private life, so I guess I’ll finish by echoing that sentiment here: “Playpen” is that cantina band from the first movie, warped, dragged through miles of sand and molested by a Duback Lizard (or maybe the Rancor).

Recorded in: Portland

Smegma lineup at time of recording: Ju Suk Reet Meate, Oblivia, Ace Farren Ford, cody

————————

8. Vapid Apparition – “Sinnessteuerung”

Another entry from the Andy Ortmann camp, but “Sinnessteuerung” couldn’t be further removed from Ortmann’s track as Permanent Midnight. Pumped-up by a cold, hard, heavy digi-beat, “Sinn” groans along with minimal tweaking and/or tinkering, save maybe a stutter here, a choked-off synth there, a cooing female voice or reason and an echo of a male voice repeating lines like, “Your mind is not your own.” So, I guess, technically, this track isn’t “minimal” at all, but … I still reserve that tone for only the most desolate pieces of music composition I come across, and “Sinnessteuerung” has that awkward, flinty, metallic feel to it. Corroded but still of a piece and very much alive, though thirsty. Seriously, I haven’t heard synths this un-slaked since that Wierd compilation (a nice 2XLP actually) … coldwave like a Cold Cave … or at least like I’ve heard Cold Cave to be, second-hand …

Here’s what the band (Ortmann) said:

band members: Andy Ortmann/Ruth Gruca

– band/recording location: Nihilist (Chicago)

Anything you want to write about the making of this track, etc.?: Not really

——————-

9. Dinowalrus – “Silver Machine”

Covering a Hawkwind tune is always a tricky proposition, and Dinowalrus handle their task with aplomb, delivering a knock-dead-drag-out chorus and some nervy solos (one of which sounds like a toy saxamaphone … is it a toy saxomaphone?). Singer Pete Feigenbaum has this way of sounding dry and old — though he’s obviously wet and young — beyond his years, and also there’s this whole wizard-ous cackle to his voice (minus the floppy sleeves). Tough to explain, much like Dino’s latest album was a real corker, as in, I was supposed to write about it and simply couldn’t come up with the right words to formulate a review and/or opinion. So I did what any hot-blooded, fever-of-a-hundred-and-three dude would do: I asked them to be on my compilation. Extreme?

Musicians: pete, kyle n’ josh

Band location: Crooklyn, NY

Recent release: % LP on Kanine Records

Notes: its a hawkwind cover, but with a condensed/rearranged structure

————

AWWWW, I’m too tired to go on, which means Josh Lay’s absolutely luscious contribution, “Freezing in the House of God,” and a half-dozen others will have to wait until tomorrow. Until then, listen to the “Going to Extremes sampler” Mp3 over there ———> and hang with the Grove …