STEVE CREATURE "s/t"(Fussy Fucker Tapes)

Intimate, acoustic pop punk four track bedroom jams! Steve Creature effectively doubles up vocal tracks, mixes energetic yet minimal hi-hat/bass/snare beats and essentially knows his way around a tascam! He's able to get big, rockin' tones out of humble equipment. Reminds me of a less snarling FYP minus the blast beats, or if Neil Young got into a time machine in 1973 during the ditch trilogy and hung out with Green Day for a month before returning to his real time. The microphone on this is recorded at a high treble and the guitar gets some nice, low wooden sounds out of an acoustic; there are hardly even symbols in the drums and yet these beats really drive.

Song lyrics about bitter breakups, leather jackets, the draw backs of drug abuse, problems with rent, working too many hours at the office, ... you know, I can relate to this stuff. "I don't like being in the same mood everyday", the chorus on "Same Mood Every Day" showcases how Steve Creature can be candid and sorrowful when describing the monotony of the 9 to 5 even when the melodies are really catchy. The content gets intense on "I'm Glad You Didn't Kill Yourself Last Summer", but then folkish and lighter with "No Glue/No Fun" although the lyrics are darkly ironic.

It would be nice if there were maybe one or two more introspective and optimistic tunes on this that focused on lighter material, which would meet the enthusiasm of the pop-punk melodies. There's only five songs on this, and the tape is notably sad. Liz Prince's illustration of "creature of the black lagoon" makes a grumpy face with a walkman in hand and headphones on head. Of course sad songs are awesome; there's a whole genre, the blues, based on the idea. It's just pop punk goes so well with "Blitzkreg Bop!" or the Ramones' "Commando". You know! The Ramones songs that sounded like SaturdayMorning Cartoons. ... like "Spider-Man" ... or the classic "I Don't Wanna Grow Up". You know? Just fun songs.

But I'm glad I got this cassette. I'll keep this review short. Also! On a side note check out Liz Prince's artwork and illustration. It is an impressive cannon of work!

http://stevecreature.bandcamp.com/
about 10 minutes long.

-- Jack Turnbull
www.jackturnbull.com

Steve Creature - S/T (self-released)

Cassette type fun arrived in the mailbox in the form of a very LO-FI "album" by one Steve Creature. He recorded over (and included the artwork and some snippets of the original songs) Peter Criss' 1978 solo album [see pic above]. This might be the only copy with the Criss music as I imagine Mr. Creature did not have a large batch of Peter Criss tapes around his house (though maybe???). I find this extremely low budget methodology fun as hell. Sure, the music is one dude singing and playing songs in, what can only be described as Daniel Johnston rip-off territory, but who cares...The tunes are catchy and the presentation is what you would want/expect when Bic pen is used to write artist's name over scratched out "Peter Criss." You can hear some Steve Creature songs on his Bandcamp. They are clearly indebted to the poppy Joey Ramone school of melody/lyrical straightforwardness, with titles such as, "Please Don't Go to Michigan" and "I'm Glad You Didn't Kill Yourself Last Summer." Not mind-blowing or all that unique, but every once in awhile it is best to be reminded that cassette tape people like you and I can have a sense of humor about all this stuff.

Buy HERE.

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