NO FRIENDS BANDS uproots the testament of time, and the old
/ new Union Pole label does justice as to making a cassette of long lost
recordings found again. NO FRIENDS BAND is one Kevin Cascell, musician and
collage artist…also a leading former member of the seemingly ever-present 1990s
rock outfit “TRUMANS WATER” - - I have my fair share of TRUMANS WATER seven
inches, cassettes and lps from them years…always amazed in the seemingly jerky,
house band appeal of their output. They were godsends back when Homestead
released “Godspeed the Punchline” - - and similar affairs. Taking notes from
all that was good, and blending it into a mess of avant –pop nonsense that was
as catchy as it was reeling.
These songs are taken from basement recordings, filed : 1997-2004,
and presented for the first time yesterday. I assume this is when the real
Trumans Water sorta fell apart. I don’t claim to know much about their output
as an esteemed follower…but I think some albums may have been released
throughout the 2000s, which I am unfamiliar with. This or that, could have all been the brainchild of SOUL
JUNK, the proto-born again Christian outfit that was steamed from said band. Is that who is also making these sounds???
I am unsure, again, I am not aware of the lineage, nor do I really care - - as
this tape deals and steals a show or two.
13 songs of pure basement love. Rock and roll don’t stand a
chance when the tape is gliding through the pinch rollers. Its all smushed and
pushed and made un-accessible, yet so beautifully concrete. The punches thrown
land on the ear, and the chest circa: dead center. Room sound recording hulls
in overblown everything: knarred up
cymbal crash, guitars that sound like they been taken from another planet, and
perfectly genuine pop-rock. Cover songs
by Dylan, Dead Moon, and Pere Ubu are kinda obscured from relative understandings
due to the justice that is performed on them. Which is good. No one needs a
duplicate. One only needs a copy of this cassette!
-- c. fischer
Posts
