fucking san diegmo! goldernrod was an awesome label and 100 watt halo is a band you should listen to if you like early drive like jehu and san diego emo bands going all haywire. this 7" is not as good as their utterly essential lp, but you would still do well to investigate it if you enjoy emo with a mathy tinge (rather than a preponderance). of course, i could just rip the lp but as earlier discussed, i am kind of slack. this 7" pre-dates the lp. please mind the crackles.
the seven kicks off with 'new youth cool', which sets the scene neatly with a peculiar sample, before in comes the piercing guitar and those oh so cool spoken / shouted vocals that will let you know what you are in for. the song rumbles and drives neatly, slowing down as required before picking it back up again. i have always enjoyed music that manages to combine muscularity and intelligence (ZO HOTT), and 100 watt halo do both of these. song spirals off into a neat finale. 'weapons for kids' continues the intensity with sweet dueling guitars and a wandering bass line. some typically disturbing mid 90s emo lyrics that appear to be "KIDS, DADDY'S DRINKING AGAIN, ALL NIGHT, HE'S DRINKING AND HE'S BEATING AGAIN", and some others that i am not certain about but they sound similarly disconcerting. the guy gets a bit wobbly like the singer from antioch arrow at this point. oh wait, i just noticed that the credits say aaron montaigne does backup vocals on this song?! WTF crazy. 'spartan masterplan' is the pick here, it totally destroys - the guitars find their groove really quickly and it's off to the races. the minimal production works great here, with the frantic vocals at the fore and everything else a melodic chaos. 'six parts of seven' wraps things up, again there is a nice groove, it's much more grungemo than the other stuff especially once it breaks away from the distorted vocals and into the chorus.
packaging design by ed templeton. skatemo. maybe i'll rip that coldwatercrane 7" with ray barbee at some point.
grab it here please.
Thanks for giving some love to this band! Their LP is one of my favorite albums ever, and sadly I'd never met another soul who'd even heard of them.
ReplyDeleteThe CWC EP is so fucking great. As far as I know they've just released this seven and a track on the Super Mixer comp. Rachel Stolte (their singer) would later join Whirlpool with member(s) of Sense Field. Ray Barbee left to skate and play solo. And the other guys formed 100 Watt Halo.
ReplyDeleteI've been looking for their LP "The Steady Continental Seventy", but can't find it anywhere, whether virtually or physically.
Btw, their track on that same comp. called Super Good Chroma is a killer one, a hell of an opener!
Great f*cking band.
Keep it loud,
t.