Plantations of Pale Pink EP
(1996, Matador Records)
Following in the style of the 6 GBV EPs released between 1993 and 1994, Plantations Of Pale Pink is rooted in the spontaneous and the haphazard. More in common with Clown Prince Of The Menthol Trailer than their previous EP Sunfish Holy Breakfast, this 7'' is a scrappy, fun collection, but does contain a few numbers that are DOA.
SIDE A:
Systems Crash- 5 Drunk jazz drumming falls over drunk single string guitar plucking. Add this to drunk vocal harmonies and the result is this song. But you know what? It's like watching your very drunk friend tell a very painful, but ultimately very amusing joke. This teeters on the edge of 1 minute disaster and winds up thoroughly and unusually memorable, while being hypnotically melodic.
Catfood on the Earwig- 1 Clearly this is a Gillard lead as the big, surreal guitar sounds give away his style. Vocals and guitar scratching on the hi-fi level. No thanks.
The Who Vs. Porky Pig- 3 Garage riff, lo-fi with dubbed vocals over said loopy garage riff. Half-assed attempt at melodic chours. Yeah, sure. Flip over to Side-B.
SIDE B:
A Life in Finer Clothing- 2 Out-of-tune scrappy guitar over novice drums and drunken Pollard lyrics bellowed over them. That's it. Ultra unflashy lead guitar riff is the only shining part.
The Worryin' Song- 1 Reverb shellaced vocals over bad guitar downstrokes. That's it.
Subtle Gear Shifting- 2 The Club is Closing, fuzzy-brained pulsation of a guitar track. Through monotone, lyrical slurring, Pollard spits out the EP name several times. Rough listen, but the listener can settle for the interesting background noise.
listened to this this morning. oddly, I prefer "catfood..." and "who vs porky..." particularly the guitar on "catfood..."
ReplyDeleteHow on earth could you possibly give the two best songs on here 1s?
ReplyDeleteI'll give you I was wrong on "The Worrying' Song," when I originally published this review. That song is pretty great and I'm way off. "Catfood..." has just never done it for me. I don't change the reviews though once they're up so it'll stay cemented this way. Thanks for reading!
DeleteI think A Life In Finer Clothing is the standout on this one, the melody is lovely.
ReplyDeleteCat food is so fucking goood. You just didn’t have enough medicine to enjoy it properly perhaps?
ReplyDeleteThis is one EP I revisit a lot and feel I got wrong. Well, you ive and learn.
Deletethis e.p.'s not the ear-candy that fast japanese spin cycle or grand hour are, but it's solid.
ReplyDeletetoday, i would give every song on this e.p. a 5.
ReplyDelete'Catfood On The Earwig' is very close to 'Pluto The Skate', right?
ReplyDeletei just accidentally listened to side B before side A
ReplyDeletewhen they harmonize on "the who vs porky pig" and then that lengthy guitar solo jumps in and closes out the song.... man, that gets me
ReplyDelete