It was a fluke from the start. Isolation Drives ended up at Radical Documents HQ, and it was good.
It was good enough to be beloved, and beloved enough to release upon cassetted
tape. But there wasn’t much for Radical Documents to go on – just a return
address (“Beaverton,” Oregon, doesn’t sound like a real place) and a phone
number: (503) 369-8009. Don’t worry – the number is on the j-card, and the Midnight
Steppers request that you call them for more information. There’s no web
presence – no Bandcamp, no website, no social media – so a number’s all we’re
going to get.
Pretty DIY, eh?
Midnight Steppers are all about DIY, as Isolation Drives was proudly (I assume “proudly”
since this is all in the liners) recorded to a Tascam 424 – “NO COMPUTERS WERE
USED TO CREATE THIS MUSIC” (all caps in original). So the tape fits right into
that early GBV aesthetic, or among the shitgaze pioneer releases of the mid- to
late aughts, like Black Vatican or Psychedelic Horseshit. Everything is
distorted and sounds like it’s being played in a can, and that’s what makes
this so great – scuzzy indie rock doesn’t sound right unless there’s an
inordinate amount of fuzz and hiss, like it’s a demo tape handed out at a
chaotic live show at a local VFW. So hey, if you’ve got one of those lined up
around Beaverton, you should give the Midnight Steppers a call – they might
want on that bill. Here’s the number again:
(503) 369-8009
https://radicaldocuments.bandcamp.com/
--Ryan
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