Rather than have me prattle on more and more about how A: I love THE TERRIBLES and B: they've been a band since 9th grade, I figured I would let someone else do it. (If you want to see that writing or hear more great music by this band, then check here and here.) I asked Jacob Berendes to write up a release by the band because he has previously unleashed music by them (including this CD-R) on his now defunct (??) label Fujichia and has been a close friend of the band for years and years. In addition to releasing financially dubious musical endeavors, Jacob also puts out a top-notch monthly newspaper called Mothers News and posted my #1 go-to video to watch whenever I am feeling uninspired. Here's Jacob Berendes....
This record (which was a tape and then a CDR but I will still call it a record) is from 2001,...and is the band's 3rd full length self-release. I'm not exactly sure what this record sounds like in a list of bands way, I'm sure an astute listener with a background in punk music could put together a nice grip of influences. i would sayyyyyyy Meat Puppets, Rudimentary Peni, and Dead Milkmen, Those were the t-shirts being worn at the time. There are a couple different ways that the singer (Jamie) sings, and a couple different guitar tones at play. some of the songs are fast and some are slow. While still clearly the same group of people, it's less self-similar than most punk records. It's harder to describe, harder to sell. Is it the best record ever? No. It's not even the best record of theirs, which is... whatever the newest one is? The yet to come out one?
I tend to contrast The Terribles with other punk bands I see that seem to form with the expressed interest of making music that sounds like a specific band or scene. I guess that makes sense given the practicalities of being in a band, but isn't it dream-preferable to get a couple people together and play the music that you all like? Isn't it preferable to do this over the course of 18 years? That's what The Terribles did, it's cool. All their other records that came after this sound like this record except that the things that are weird about this record, there's more of them (on the other records) and they're weirder. Like all Terribles records, this one has a weird goblin-voiced intro track and at least 1 twangy instrumental number. There are some live tracks at the end, enforcing the magazine-feel of the record.
The artwork on the cover is drawn by Matt, the drummer. They trade off doing the covers for each release, which is cute. Matt wouldn't get cover duties again until [i don't remember what year and i loaned this cd away]'s "In Congre∫s" (ed. note: coming to the blog one day soon), which took a while to come out because the typesetting was so elaborate. But this record is pretty early, so typesetting is a non-issue. The cover is a spaceship that looks like a skull, no problem. The band name is written in goofy bones, looks cool.
Full disclosure: I helped record this record and they did a cover of the Conan the Barbarian theme by Basil Poledouris and I heard the name "Basil Poledouris" about a million times. They couldn't stop saying "Basil Poledouris", They're such dicks. AHHHHHH this band rules. If you have a record label please contact The Terribles (c/o matt's mom's house)(ed note #2: her phone number is buried in code in a Terribles song) about releasing their next slab "Frig: entire CD", Maybe they'll go on tour behind it, Maybe you'll send it places for review, maybe anyone (other than me (and possibly Greg)) will care!
BASIL POLEDOURIS
i meant "magazine-like", like, it's like a magazine, not like it's like the band Magazine.
ReplyDeleteThat was a question in my head....I'll change it. But what if there was a magazine about Magazine?
ReplyDelete