Luscious vinyl from the Karen/Alan George Ledergerber split 7-inch on Hype Machine Records.
I feel I’m finally coming into my own as a vinyl-buyer. No more TRICKS, no more TREATS, no more FORKING OVER $75 for a Tonto’s Expanding Head Band album I ALREADY OWN. Or, at least, that didn’t happen during my last trip.
Oh no — I got diggety-DOWN, baby, and Austin record shops will never be the same. Allow me to run you through my latest haul:
- a four-way-split 7-inch between Shellac, Big’N, Brise-Glace and … wait for IT … U.S. Maple (oh yeah!) on Skin Graft
- Half-Handed Cloud‘s “What’s the Remedy” EP on 7-inch wax
- Panda Bear‘s “Surfers” 7-inch (for $9.99? yep, and ouch)
- “Memory Boy” 7-inch, on white vinyl, by Deerhunter (marked on the tag as Deerhoof)
- perhaps my greatest find in awhile: Modest Mouse‘s “A Life of Arctic Sounds” b/w “Medication” 7-inch, on Suicide Squeeze Records and also on white vinyl
- that Deerhoof/Xiu Xiu split that came out for Record Store Day, on orange marbled wax
- a great Carbonas (ex-Black Lips) 7-inch on opaque-red vinyl
- the “A Proud Tradition” 2X7-inch, care of The Queers
- AND, last but not least, a great half-pink, half-opaque 7-inch split that came out circa 2004 between two bands I know shit-all about: Karen (yep, just Karen, whose song is called “Fuck Party,” which is HOT) and Alan George Ledergerber (whom contributes “255 Seconds”) … which I will detail for you now … (perhaps I’ll tell you about the other stuff later; the 7-inches tired me out a bit)
The beauty of finding a record like the latter — for $3.99 no less, and which came out in a few editions for a total of 300: 50 on pink/opaque mix, 125 on pink, 125 on clear — is I would have never have discovered Karen and George’s music had I not walked into Backspin in Austin on that particular day, nor would I have if I hadn’t had a few hours to peruse the bulbous Bargain Bin 7-inch section. But BLAM-BANG-BOOM, there it is, sitting in my collection and lookin’ all purdy in its transparent printed jacket. HIP!!! Not to mention that both sides are almost diametric opposites yet retain just the sort of characteristics that make Gumshoe nice and moist late at night …
And now, the music: Alan George Ledergerber’s side absolutely drowns in a sea of pitch-bent synths, groaning drones, prog-heavy atmospheres and computer quick-keys. Considering this came out in 2004 and what’s happened since with — to go with the most recently popular reference points, Mark McGuire/Emeralds, Oneohtrix Point Never, a bunch of the NNA Tapes stuff, Edmond De Deyster, Sam Prekop‘s latest one — that’s a pretty big endorsement for what Ledergerber is delving into here, like a giant, steamy soup few will taste and even fewer will feel the lysergic effects of. Not sure what else this strangely named feller has been up to, but I’m gon’ find out.
Karen’s offering, the one with the word “fuck” in it, is equally trippy and wicked-wicked-AWSE. I’m trying to think of comparisons here … Oxes with synths? Some of those early Famous Class instrumental bands, with polish (such as The Huxtables)? Jenny Hoyston of Erase Errata goin’ solo, but heavier?
It’s not particularly the playing or the choice of beats/riffs/etc. that propel the track into my earogenous (yep, I’m coining it) zone, more the general atmosphere, lo-fi scratch-pickle-scratch and the fact that every few seconds or so a new panic-synth JOLTS me back into reality. A fading-sunset outro does “Fuck Party” no disservice either. An intriguing cut, tender and true; just what 7-inch surprises are about, I’d say.
This here's yer deLUXE package, y'all: Alan George Ledergerber and Karen give us 7-inch luv.
