A MESS OF 45s

PILCHER'S LIST - LOVERS AND ODDITIES 45

As a joke on the iTunes "digital 45" concept, we recorded two songs and had the intention of handing them out back in August. We still haven't done it.

Here's what I know -
I played drums and didn't do anything with mixing. "Lovers" (an original), sounds a little thin, but not too bad. "It's all over now" (dylan) is more of a problem. The bass seems to be an after effect and the bass guitar is in the mud, with drums sounding like cymbals and snare. I think someone ran compression on this as it sounds terrible.

Silly things:
John! WTH? that mando part at 3.16 in "Lovers"??
Also, we need MOOOOOREE MAX!!!!! He's indistinguishable throughout both of these songs...

I don't know what Minnix is singing about, but his voice sounds nice.

I love all of you.

OVERALL RATING - nice, but suffers like all the other pilch recordings
KEY TRACKS - lovers and oddities

BLITZEN TRAPPER - WAR IS PLACEBO

Record Store Day 7".

Two songs that are acoustic and sound like Wilco, and therefore, more enjoyable than anything else by Blitzen Trapper. I'm determining that I really enjoy mediocre slower tempo country rock more than I should. I've listened to this dang thing 3 times already. The b-side "Booksmart Baby" is meh, but its less than 2 minutes, so why not?!

OVERALL RATING - decent. like eggs. if you like them...gross
KEY TRACKS - war is placebo

ROCKET FROM THE CRYPT - BOYCHUCKER

One of my first 7"s when I started buying vinyl regularly. It was actually a christmas gift (thanks parents) and it has my all time favorite RFTC song "Jumper K. Balls". To be honest, "Jumper" has no decipherable lyrics, but who cares?! It's a wonderful 2 1/2 minute rocker with a great chorus. "Boychucker" is classic RFTC that you should all know and love. "Lefty" is a song that's just there - like some surfy spooky thing with muffled vocals, and lack of real drums. But still nice!

I still enjoy RFTC and you should too.

OVERALL RATING - gotta have it.
KEY TRACKS - jumper k. balls

THE RESIDENTS - SATISFACTION

Here, the Residents take on The Rolling Stones "Satisfaction" in a mess of synths, yelling, Snakefinger, an bad taste. But bad taste tastes so so good with these boys! If you don't like the Residents and fail to see the humor, you'll be annoyed. But if you're like me, you'll love it. The b-side ("Loser=Weed" ((said as "Loser is congruent to weed")) is a number that sounds like video game music with a bouncy bubbly keyboard line and fast repetitive vocals. Its only 2.15 or so and its enjoyable, but not the best. Better than some Residents stuff though...

OVERALL RATING - choco taco
KEY TRACKS - satisfaction

BECK/JAY REATARD - GAMMA RAY

A song from Beck off some album I havent' heard. The song is decent enough, better than a lot of Beck I've heard, but Jay does the b-side. And he tears it up!!!

Well, in all honesty, it isn't drastically different from the Beck version, but recognizable enough so someone would know that it was Jay. And it sounds great!!

Man, Beck should have Jay record more of his songs....

OVERALL RATING - klondike bar
KEY TRACKS - gamma ray (jay version)

THE FALL - SLIPPY FLOOR

The sole Fall release of 2009 is a cranker.

"Slippy Floor (mark mix)" starts off with some jam with MES saying in some snarking little kid voice "we're gonna get married-uh". then its a song with 2 chords for like 4 minutes!!! at one point nell remarked "so, there haven't been any changes in this". and i replied by going "uh-huh" and giving a rambling oral history of the Fall. After the cranker, there's another practice tape thing followed by a voicemail.
B-side "Hot Cake pt. 2" is a bass driver rocker that has Mark talking about a "slippy floor" and cackling in the background. maybe this has something to do with his recently broken hip? who knows?! There's a lot of slippy floors out there. Usually there are signs. Now, there's just gonna be copies of this fine release around them instead.

OVERALL RATING - strawberry shortcake
KEY TRACKS - slippy floor

THINKING FELLERS UNION LOCAL 282 - EVERYDAY

First song is a silly bassline with vocals, trumpet, and hi-hat and some squirbly guitar noise. It isn't much more than that, but the b-side is why you are here...

It's them doing selections from Morricone's "A Fistful of Dollars". A multi-movement romp through Spaghetti Western Madness Land. And its great. Because in case you didn't know, these Fellers are quite the musicians who are just great at what they play. There's also a live version of this on Porcelain Entertainments (ltd. to 2000 copies - one of which I have), and its hard to say which i prefer. The live is nice because its great to hear them do it spot on without any sort of overdubs or stopping. Not sure if this version does, but most likely. Still its great!!!! They also totally nail the ending and its fantastic!!! Yeah!

Thinking Fellers + Morricone = match made in heaven...

If you can find this for $2.99 like I did, you'd be a fool not to buy it.

You silly silly fool.

OVERALL RATING - Nestle Drumstick
KEY TRACKS - Selections from "A Fistful of Dollars"