Feb 2, 2012

DON YOUR HELMET, WE'RE GOING TO NEW ENGLAND

Merry Airbrakes
s/t
Shadoks Music LP
1973/1999

Massachusetts, everything you do makes my heart barf, except when it comes to musics. (Ok, I'll skip the latter-day straightedge mugging. Fine.) Will a dozen Trimbles or Idea Fire Companies or Twisted Villages or secret lurking free jazz sectors make up for quarterly property taxes and that guy Mitt, there? Nah. But I want y'all to keep trying.
I'll pardon you the Vietnam Vet back story that's easy enough to find round these woods, but don't go feelin starved. What's important is this Bill Homans dude sends out hot rays of zoned-out troublefolk throughout this thing like a man fresh outta solitary. Occasionally, the psyched-up blues give way to brittle, folk numbers like "Frog Song," flooded with word salad, word soup, and word-you-like-dessert?, but the whole mess remains menacing and damning even when drugged-out, droop-eyed. Though, the bracing musicianship (how often do you peep that phrase on this blog?) sure ain't hateful, neither. 
Don't let the review in the Acid Archives, which amounts to a shrug, mislead you. This LP be a weave of stubborn-ass kudzu that prospers in a field of records (rural rock/stoned Americana) that usually smudge out in just a few spins. In other words, another rusty notch for Massachusetts and well worth a check out.

No comments: