Thursday, January 18, 2018

Cassette Review: Blotchouts "Slop The Hogs" (Crass Lips Records)


There comes a time in everyone's life when they hear punk rock for the first time.  Do you even remember what the first punk band you ever heard was?  It's weird to think how mid to late 1990's me was listening to Epitaph, Lookout and Nitro Records and now how far this music has come.   Blotchouts might not be punk rock in a pure sense, but there are elements of it underneath everything else in this music.   It's fast paced.   It's wild.  It's unadulterated.   It's everything punk rock should be.

Yet these jangly guitars make me think this is something closer to garage punk.   It can really explore the psych/trippy sound of music when the bass line reminds me of "Boris the Spider".   You have to imagine someone like Led Zeppelin merging with the Ramones in order to get the slightest idea of what this could sound like.  In some ways, I think of a lot of Daniel Johnston's music as being acoustic (Though I know it's not) and if you took an artist like him, plugged him in and sped him up then this might be the result.

While no direct comparison for this exists, you have to realize that it is even difficult for me to come up with a proper formula to do this justice.   My "Zepplin + Ramones" comparison is a good general, overall type of vibe, but if you really listen to it you'll hear so much more.   So what does this music make me want to do?  It gives me energy, so it makes me feel like you could put these songs on as the soundtrack to skateboarding.    It helps me to clean though, to get through the chore of it without realizing what I'm actually doing because I'm too busy being wrapped up in the songs.

But perhaps most importantly I imagine a certain level of chaos if you were to experience a live Blotchouts performance.    I've read that Blotchouts is a one man gang, but to play live I would assume there would have to be more than just one person on stage playing the various instruments (Though if he played everything all by himself I definitely need to see that) and in that regard someone would likely end up playing guitar on their back on the floor.   Can someone make a live Blotchouts DVD?  Even if it's just on YouTube, send me the links because this stuff is a trip, man.


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