Friday, April 11, 2008
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Friday, April 4, 2008
Free Old Maryland Art Punk Part 2: Reptile House
Sorry about the mess involving the show cancellation today, but luckily that gibes me a chance to really sit down and write this post about Reptile House, which I've been meaning to do for a while. Enjoy!
I Stumble As The Crow Flies EP (1985)
Recorded by none other than Ian MacKaye and jointly released by Dischord and Reptile House's own Druid Hill records, this is Reptile House's best known release and their finest moment. This record is a personal favorite of mine and a criminally overlooked art punk classic, which I wrote about at length back when I first downloaded it. Bassist David Rhodes is replaced here by Leigh Panlilio, whose playing style is highly reminiscent of Mission of Burma's Clint Conley, and the proceedings here are much tighter and more song-centered than what one imagines the group who produced "Talons and Claws" playing. Additionally, this record sounds years ahead of its time: Between Joe Goldsborough's angular, noisy, and effects-tinged guitar playing and Daniel Higgs' (credited here as Daniel V. Strasser) lyrics and delivery, slightly different than his better known work in that here there's far more humor and even some pop culture references, this EP is arguably more at home along side the likes of Videohippos and Ponytail than 1980s hardcore. Truly, an archetypal hidden post-punk gem.
Track 1-"Keelhaul Love"
Track 2-"Social Champion"
Track 3-"Mrs. Rain"
Track 4-"Sleestak Weather"
Listen To the Powersoul LP (1988)
Although Listen To The Powersoul contains some of Reptile House's weakest work, it nonetheless has its moments of redemption. To use a cliche, Powersoul is the sound of a band breaking up. Among its failures, there's a lack of the energy which informed earlier recordings, Daniel Higgs, usually one of my favorite lyricists, is weak here at least in that regard, and forays into traditional hard rock fail abysmally. The lineup around Daniel Higgs and Joe Goldsborough is radically different. London May left the band in 1986 to join Samhain and was replaced by Gary Breeze, and according to Bandtoband.com, it would appear that a solid line up wasn't even maintained through the sessions. Also, Asa Osbourne, whom would work with Higgs to great acclaim in Lungfish, joined the band for these final sessions. The songs on Powersoul come more or less in pairs, with the chiming, Byrds-via-post-punk numbers "Powersoul" and "Mother Michigan," probably the record's strongest cuts. There's also "Ike's Hammer" and "Evil Iron Any Day Now," brooding garage rockers in the vein of the Stooges and Flipper and both solid songs, and "Para Polyana" and "Engine," dated experiments with classic rock sounds that are Reptile House's two worst songs. On a plane of its own is "Skyhead," which closes Powersoul, really much more the first Lungfish song than the last Reptile House song. Listen To The Powersoul is a disorganized mess with its share of low points, but nonetheless a fascinating final statement from Reptile House.
Reptile House-Listen To The Powersoul (ZIP File)
(Special thanks to 30 Under DC, Something I Learned Today, and Lo-Res Viscera for pictures and MP3 Links, thanks to last.fm for picture up top)
Reptile House
Reptile House were a melodic art punk band from Baltimore active during the 1980s, today most notable for featuring future Lungfish singer Daniel Higgs, and, to a lesser extent, Samhain drummer London May among its ranks. Histories of the group online, comprising an All Music Guide entry, an interview with London May on his Samhain years which touches on Reptile House, and a few scattered blog entries, are few and far between, often conflicting one another. The basic facts, though, are that the band was started in 1983 by guitarist Joe Goldsborough and Daniel Higgs, then going by his given name Daniel Lindensruth. They were a fixture of the Baltimore hardcore punk scene during that time, opening for some of the leading groups of that movement during their tenure. The group's lineup had changed drastically by the late 1980s, with Goldsborough and Higgs the only constant members, finally breaking up after Higgs left and was briefly replaced by a member of Grey March, another Baltimore art punk band that's something of a perpetual white whale for me whenever I go looking for music online. Both sonically and culturally, the group occupied a middle ground between the bizarre backwoods post-punk of bands like Pylon and Metal Urbain and Washington, D.C. Revolution Summer-style punk. Here are my thoughts release-by-release on Reptile House:
"Talons and Claws" appeared on Bouncing Babies Various Artists comp. (1983)
Reptile House's first appearance on record was on this 1983 DC/Maryland compilation. This track owes much to Joy Division in its extended introduction, in addition to its use of a deep yet prominent sounding bass, played here by David Rhodes, to drive the melody while Joe Goldsborough's angular guitar provides hooks and atmosphere. Nonetheless, when the song kicks in full force there's no denying the effect hardcore had on the band. The end result is something as much rooted in the art punk avant-garde of those times with the spartan, high-velocity energy of contemporaneous hardcore punk. It leaves today's listener with an interesting question: Is this the earliest example of something truly post-hardcore on record?
Reptile House-"Talons and Claws" MP3
"Talons and Claws" appeared on Bouncing Babies Various Artists comp. (1983)
Reptile House's first appearance on record was on this 1983 DC/Maryland compilation. This track owes much to Joy Division in its extended introduction, in addition to its use of a deep yet prominent sounding bass, played here by David Rhodes, to drive the melody while Joe Goldsborough's angular guitar provides hooks and atmosphere. Nonetheless, when the song kicks in full force there's no denying the effect hardcore had on the band. The end result is something as much rooted in the art punk avant-garde of those times with the spartan, high-velocity energy of contemporaneous hardcore punk. It leaves today's listener with an interesting question: Is this the earliest example of something truly post-hardcore on record?
Reptile House-"Talons and Claws" MP3
I Stumble As The Crow Flies EP (1985)
Recorded by none other than Ian MacKaye and jointly released by Dischord and Reptile House's own Druid Hill records, this is Reptile House's best known release and their finest moment. This record is a personal favorite of mine and a criminally overlooked art punk classic, which I wrote about at length back when I first downloaded it. Bassist David Rhodes is replaced here by Leigh Panlilio, whose playing style is highly reminiscent of Mission of Burma's Clint Conley, and the proceedings here are much tighter and more song-centered than what one imagines the group who produced "Talons and Claws" playing. Additionally, this record sounds years ahead of its time: Between Joe Goldsborough's angular, noisy, and effects-tinged guitar playing and Daniel Higgs' (credited here as Daniel V. Strasser) lyrics and delivery, slightly different than his better known work in that here there's far more humor and even some pop culture references, this EP is arguably more at home along side the likes of Videohippos and Ponytail than 1980s hardcore. Truly, an archetypal hidden post-punk gem.
Track 1-"Keelhaul Love"
Track 2-"Social Champion"
Track 3-"Mrs. Rain"
Track 4-"Sleestak Weather"
Listen To the Powersoul LP (1988)
Although Listen To The Powersoul contains some of Reptile House's weakest work, it nonetheless has its moments of redemption. To use a cliche, Powersoul is the sound of a band breaking up. Among its failures, there's a lack of the energy which informed earlier recordings, Daniel Higgs, usually one of my favorite lyricists, is weak here at least in that regard, and forays into traditional hard rock fail abysmally. The lineup around Daniel Higgs and Joe Goldsborough is radically different. London May left the band in 1986 to join Samhain and was replaced by Gary Breeze, and according to Bandtoband.com, it would appear that a solid line up wasn't even maintained through the sessions. Also, Asa Osbourne, whom would work with Higgs to great acclaim in Lungfish, joined the band for these final sessions. The songs on Powersoul come more or less in pairs, with the chiming, Byrds-via-post-punk numbers "Powersoul" and "Mother Michigan," probably the record's strongest cuts. There's also "Ike's Hammer" and "Evil Iron Any Day Now," brooding garage rockers in the vein of the Stooges and Flipper and both solid songs, and "Para Polyana" and "Engine," dated experiments with classic rock sounds that are Reptile House's two worst songs. On a plane of its own is "Skyhead," which closes Powersoul, really much more the first Lungfish song than the last Reptile House song. Listen To The Powersoul is a disorganized mess with its share of low points, but nonetheless a fascinating final statement from Reptile House.
Reptile House-Listen To The Powersoul (ZIP File)
(Special thanks to 30 Under DC, Something I Learned Today, and Lo-Res Viscera for pictures and MP3 Links, thanks to last.fm for picture up top)
No Show Today
WCUA's computer is down, I'll be back next week. Reptile House blog post up soon, though!
-Mac
-Mac
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