Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 - Admonishing The Bishops (Album Review)

 

Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 - Admonishing The Bishops

(1993)


My copy: 2022 reissue by Bulbous Monocle. 


The Fellers released this four track EP in 1993, bridging the gap between their abrasive lo-fi masterpiece Mother Of All Saints and the critical high point of Strangers From The Universe. The band’s recording had improved considerably, simultaneously dialing back their usually chaotic sonic pranks.

It is instantly apparent how much more in focus the production actually is as the guitars of “Hurricane” glide through chords with a subtle tinge of dissonance. The writing is more fleshed out at the cost of some personality, though their refined understanding of restraint and dynamics go a long way as they move from bleeding lead riffs to the sweet caress of reverberating vocal yodelling. The stilted, flickering march of bass and guitar on “Undertaker” keeps things mildly uneasy, carrying a subdued anxiety even as the drums pick up a rolling rockabilly beat. The lead guitar riffs are addicting, and the mood is like a more innocent version of the early Butthole Surfers albums.

“Million Dollars” habitually bounces along to a clever rhythm before resetting and moving into a catchy chorus. The bass has also been given much needed attention, with a greater focus being placed on the low-end sounds. There are gravelly moments of distortion on this EP, though nothing blasts off as harshly as their work on Mother Of All Saints. The eerie industrial tremolo of “Father” is matched by creepily intimate vocals, only for the song to embrace a heavenly waltz with layered vocals, rounding out finally to a hopeful bluegrass hymn with giddy banjo melodies. 

The Thinking Fellers, in spite of any shifts in production, will always be masters of combining opposing moods. Admonishing The Bishops does tone down their more radical experiments of the past, but also displays a more sophisticated understanding of songwriting, and houses some impressive melodies and masterful shifts in pacing.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fishmans - ゆらめき In The Air (Album Review)

Image
  Fishmans - ゆらめき In The Air (1998) My copy: 2007 Fishmans Rock Festival box set press by Universal Music and Polydor. Translated as “Flickering In The Air,” this thirteen-minute longform single stands as the final studio release from Fishmans (barring live recordings). The vinyl copy includes their first and only instrumental mix on the B-side. Beginning far away, the music tramples the senses as tangles of psychedelic sound effects trickle and spiral around Shinji Sato’s euphoric falsetto. The rhythm section seems to be the last bastion tying their music to dub, sitting steadily as a blank canvas for dreamy melodic brushstrokes. Violin also rises into the mix, elevating the tone with added drama.  This simple structure is what holds them back from reaching the height of something like Long Season : which similarly embraces repetition albeit in a rare, genre-defying style. This may, however, be Sato’s strangest vocal experiment yet as his lyrics later devolve into child-like babb
Read more

Cherubs - Short Of Popular (Album Review)

Image
  Cherubs - Short Of Popular (1996) My copy: 2018 remastered reissue on yellow, pink and blue vinyl by Sonic Surgery Records. Released two years after the eyebrow raising Heroin Man comes Short Of Popular : a compilation of singles and demos made to cap off the band’s initial run in the ‘90s. Those already sold on the piercing shriek of vocalist Kevin Whitley will feel again at home, to delight also in their uncompromised density. Where Short Of Popular shines most, however, is in the odd quiet moments - feeling experimental and unique in comparison to their usual noise-rock assaults.  Rising slowly into “Carjack Fairy,” the metaphorical bull crashes through the gates immediately with a barrage of fiery riffage: churning over repetitive rhythms. Their guitars bend and slide in a similar manner to The Gun Club though the distortion and tempo split the difference between rockabilly and sludge. The voice nervously rises to the top of the high-end, fighting to tread water of the rauco
Read more

Les Rallizes Denudes - The Oz Tapes (Album Review)

Image
  Les Rallizes Denudes - The Oz Tapes (2022) My copy: 2022 limited remastered reissue on translucent blue vinyl by Temporal Drift. A major draw to the efforts of Japanese noise/psych-rock band Les Rallizes Denudes lies within their inherent mystery - working only as a live act from 1967 to 1996, their only recorded material came in the form of live tapes and bootlegs spanning multitudes of shows. In collaboration with a U.S. based label, The Oz Tapes collects and redistributes live efforts taken from the underground Oz Studio in Kichijoji during the early ‘70s, displaying their take on the then new style of garage-rock as pioneered primarily by the Velvet Underground.  Beginning with a brief, swampy atmosphere, the record proper kicks off with the almost surprisingly sweet “A Shadow Of Our Joy.” Those familiar with their more freeform noise experiments may be taken aback at these somewhat dry rock tunes, but agitation and torment is still ever prominent in the haggard slurring of f
Read more