" height="71">Diablo Guapo / Sing The Troubled Beast
Drag City, 1989;1990
rating: 4/5
reviewer: filmore mescalito holmes
Taking a nod from the millennium edition series of Beach Boys two-for-one re-releases, this 2005 Drag City release joins together both major releases from the late '80s noise rock trio Bastro. After the geographical dissolution of the Louisville, Kentucky based Squirrel Bait, guitarist David Grubbs and bassist Clark Johnson reconvened in Washington D.C. with a drum machine to produce a six track EP under a new name. Shortly thereafter, the machine was replaced by college percussion major John McEntire; a key move as John would go on to help found The Sea & The Cake, and legendary post-rock collective Tortoise along side eventual Clark Johnson replacement Bundy K. Brown.
They just don't make music quite like this any more. Built in response to the happy accessibility of Squirrel Bait, Bastro is surprisingly complex, requiring the consumer to actually listen to and not just hear the songs. In context, tracks like "The Sifter," with its layered piercing atmosphere, the ambient lounge piano tune "Recidivist," and the brass driven "Guapo" show more sophistication and will to experiment with comfortable formulas than all the Nickelbacks, Good Charlottes, Dashboard Confessionals, and any other modern group of today's magazine friendly 30 year olds portraying young adult disillusionment combined. There's a little something extra, a far-off studio sound or subtle guitar effect, in every Bastro tune that, while it may not make them any easier to listen to, does make them interesting in their own way. It's easy to see why Grubbs went on to such a strong solo career (Drag City now supporting him eight albums deep among other projects). The problem with the majority of bands that get lumped under the noise classification is, despite their volume, a total artistic monotony blanketing their sound. Often the screaming singers and guitars grind away at the same color for 40 steady minutes but Grubbs has a keen sense of delivery, chanting mantras on "Can Of Whoopass," while calmly streaming spoken word poetry over Tom Waits demented coffee shop piano ditties four tracks later on "Wurlitzer." Every other shade in between is set to a dynamic of pounding licks and subtle guitar wise nuances.
We've seen Nuggets resurrect the music of garage bands from the '60s... listening to this, I'm convinced we're due for a refresher of garage's second renaissance of 20 years later.
1. Demons
2. Krakow, Illinois
3. I Come From A Long Line Of Shipbuilders
4. Tobacco In The Sink
5. Recidivist
6. Floating Home
7. Jefferson-In-Drag
8. The Sifter
9. Noise/Star
10. Recidivist
11. Tallow Waters
12. Filthy Five, Filthy Ten
13. Guapo
14. Flesh-Colored House
15. Short-Haired Robot
16. Can Of Whoopass
17. Decent Skin
18. Engaging The Reverend
19. Wurlitzer
20. Hoosier Logic
21. Shoot Me A Deer
More about: Bastro
