I used to hang out with this guy when I lived in Chicago, but have known him far longer from a chance meeting in an Indiana junior-high. I had a copy of Dragon magazine, usually a signal for cromag's to begin the beatings this became a quick bonding opportunity for a fellow geek...er, enthusiast.
It's this brand of devotion to the fringe that makes his band's music so informed. Oh, in case you hadn't gleaned this, the name is A Band Called Blower. Now I'm not saying that Dan is the only reason the music shines. Like-minds gravitate. Matt Fontaine and former-members Greg & Nathan all flesh out a sound so layered with eclectic influences that it's almost baroque.
I could drop names like i was tryin' to get outta jail, for instance:
Dead Language (that's the album featured at iTunes) takes you back to the days when garage meant just that and not daddy's million-dollar recording studio. It builds on the sounds of The Fall, Clinic, The Stooges and, others have remarked, Television with the benefit of hindsight and more than a little psychedelia...
- but rock criticism is useless and the proof is in the pudding.
One can go to iTunes and get a sampling if each song, or visit their site and pull-down some whole mp3's for free, or go to their Myspace profile and listen/add songs to one's own profile, or all of the above. I really hope you give these guys a go. They represent a chapter of the highly self-conscious turn-of-the-century rock progression that much of America missed while it was happening.
Dead Language tracks:
- Absolute Zero
- Trickbag
- Check, Double Check
- Hangnail
- Domelite
- Carpetbomb
- Infinity Clue
- Little Wire
- Strange Kind of Luck
- Tokyo Olympiad
Oh yeah, I also made a cheesy little video for track 9:
*purplemonkeydishwasher
