There are a number of ways to approach Engine Kid, depending where your interests lay. I first discovered them as one of the first non-hardcore bands on the legendary NYHC label Revelation Records, where they remained an oddball curiosity until my tastes branched out a bit. By the mid/late-90s they fit perfectly with my interest in Slint, Rodan and other Louisville, KY bands affiliated with the Touch & Go / Drag City / Quarterstick family.
Engine Kid were from Seattle however, and had a few releases on C/Z Records, home of Hammerbox, Icky Joey, Coffin Break and other alt/grunge bands relegated to the dollar bin by the cruel passage of time. While EK didn't really have much in common with those bands, they did have a number of releases on C/Z at a time when anything connected with Seattle was painted with the same brush.
Nowadays however, they're most relevant as the band Greg Anderson was in before Burning Witch, Goatsnake and SUNN O))). There are a few moments where Engine Kid hinted at the territory Anderson would explore with his later work. One of those was the band's final release and crowning achievement, the Heater Sweats Nails / Husk single, released by Troubleman Unlimited in 1995. While the b-side sounds like a lost lullaby from Slint's Spiderland, the a-side covers the other end of EK's spectrum: sludge. The classic mid-90s indie label budget mastering takes a bit of the oomph out of the song, but "Heater.." still packs a pretty good punch for a Slint-enamored band trying to sound like the Melvins. I always thought that "Husk" complemented it well, yin-yang style. See for yourself..
Engine Kid "Heater Sweats Nails" (from Heater Sweats Nails / Husk 7", 1995)
Engine Kid "Husk" (from Heater Sweats Nails / Husk 7", 1995)
Engine Kid "Heater Sweats Nails" / "Husk" 7"
Heavenly Pop Hits – Flying Nun Records
Heavenly Pop Hits – Flying Nun Records
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Song Of The Day 004
Back again.. hopefully things will continue like this.
My girlfriend listened to a lot of The Clean back when we started dating and for the most part, they didn't really do much for me. The exception to this was one song on their 1982 EP Boodle Boodle Boodle: "Point That Thing Somewhere Else". I'm a sucker for the Apache / Motorik beat wherever it pops up and "Point That Thing.." borrowed it to great effect. Sounding like a cross between straight ahead 4/4 Krautrock and Yo La Tengo's more propulsive moments (though YLT and their own adaptation of that sound obviously came later on) it was right up my alley at the time. Much later now, noticing a nice vinyl reissue of The Clean Compilation (which gathered most of their early work) floating around, I've revisited the early EPs. At this point I'm down with most of their material, but "Point That Thing.." still stands out, offering their best example of Velvet Underground-style repetition and escape from traditional song structure. 1982 seems a bit wrong for a song like this - the era of post-punk, full-blown hardcore, early Industrial, etc., but as with a lot of the best music, the wrong time was totally the right time.
The Clean "Point That Thing Somewhere Else" (originally from Boodle Boodle Boodle, 1982; reissued on Clean Compilation, 1986)
Nodzzz 12"
Hey folks. Sorry about the massive gap in posting.. I've been busy with a lot of real world stuff lately. Ironically I've been spending a lot more time than usual listening to music and getting stoked on it during the break - I just haven't had time to post about it. I'm hoping to change that though.
I spent a lot of time listening to the demo from San Francisco's Nodzzz over the summer and was amped to find out they have a 12" out next week. The label, What's Your Rupture?, tossed the first song up last month and it sounds pretty killer, expanding on the sound of the demo but still keeping things simple and effective. Also killer is their West Coast tour with Love Is All and Vivian Girls later this month (Vancouver date is Nov. 24 @ Richard's). Interested parties can pre-order the 12" here or pick it up at one of the shows.
Nodzzz "Is She There" (from s/t Lp, 2008)
Juan Maclean for president!
Hi everybody. Long time, no see. Sorry about that..
I've got a backlog of rad stuff to post, but first things first, Juan Maclean hit Vancouver Tuesday night and absolutely killed it. I've seen dude rock a few solo sets and he was solid, mostly spinning early 90s house and techno classics, but it always left me wondering how amazing a full-band live performance would be. Last night I found out – it was killer.
The crowd was fairly sparse but very receptive, so the vibe was a good one. Aside from some juggling and adjusting of parts, it was cool to hear how close the live versions of the songs sounded to the recorded ones. Juan's band's drums/synth/theremin/pseudo-303 configuration faithfully recreated the sounds of all the songs.. not really a surprise since after a while it dawned on me that they functioned as a live band from the beginning and weren't just adapting their songs to a band situation.
After running through earlier singles "You Can't Have It Both Ways" and "Give Me Every Little Thing", a couple from Less Than Human, and a few new ones, I knew the final song would be a loooooong one when they announced 30-some minutes into the set that it was their last. As my Facebook status (ha!) alludes to, they ended with a massive 20 minute version of Happy House, with multiple breaks and extended acid action. Every time I thought they were done they brought it back again and the twists, turns and breaks kept things hype right until the end.
For me, 'live band' performances of hip-hop and dance music usually sacrifice the funkiness of the dance element and the energy of the band element and you get the worst of both worlds: a lethargic, incoherent mess that sounds like stiff studio musicians jamming on songs you thought you knew; snooze-ville. Not so here – everything hit just right and perfectly captured the essence of the songs, making it seem so easy and obvious. Hopefully they'll utilize the band more often for touring because it's a completely different and unique show.