July 2, 2011

"a cool offering of subterranean garage skuzz" (aka: lost/found BAD SECRETS review)

Well, our ballsoutcrazy June sale has come to an end, but we still have nearly 250 random items on sale at the moment, including this oft-overlooked weirdo record we dropped about two years ago... the sole release (thus far) from BAD SECRETS:


We're going out of our way to post about this oddball release (a 9"+CD) as we just found an old review of this wild slab. Longtime brethren Crucial Blast are almost like an east coast Aquarius, whereas they take (lots of) time to type up detailed description of each item they sell. Impressive to say the least, and here's what they had to say about the aforementioned BAD SECRETS jammer:

"Weird, cavernous, bloozy garage skum from this duo out of Louisville, kind of a surprise offering from Robotic Empire. It's been descibed as "shoegazey" by some, probably because of the copious amounts of reverb that soak into every nook and cranny of these seven songs, but Bad Secrets sound to my ears more like the kind of drug-n'-booze addled noise rock outfits that were slithering out of downtown New York City back in the mid to late 80's, the sort of thing that might have appeared on Rough Trade or Homestead. The guys behind this are drummer Dan Davis (also of Kodan Armada) and guitarist Evan Patterson, the latter known for his involvement in some fine contempo pigfuck/noise rock outfits like Breather Resist, Young Widows and Black Cross. In this configuration, though, Patterson goes for a more drugged and dissonant sort of clamor, the two musicians shambling through these creepy swamp-stained dirges, a vague industrial quality sticking to everything as the twangy, skronking guitar wigs out over a pounding, percussive oil-drum throb, the songs partially formed, and apparently partially improvised as well. The recording is suitably dank and dingy, the aforementioned reverb-heavy sound has it's murkiness amplified by the low fi four-track production. Haunted, stoned gothic noise rock riddled with slurred, drawling vocals and ghostly wails, subterranean metallic scrape and trippy stereo panning, clanking riffs and chaotic drum freak outs, and weird production fuckery that ranges from sped-up tape noise and sudden drop-outs to grainy needle pops and room noise. Imagine Pussy Galore on Quaaludes, or Nick Cave stalking some ancient crypt, and you're in the general vicinity. The guitars utilize some neat shimmery Morricone-esque twang on some of the tracks, too, and the band occasionally even goes off into something resembling a nocturnal version of surf rock at times. Things get pretty "out" and psychedelic throughout this little record, but the duo are still able to produce some seriously catchy noise rock jams like "Gimmee Sound" and "Go And Leave". It's a cool offering of subterranean garage skuzz, presented on an unusual 9" size vinyl record in a silk-screened sleeve, and includes a cd version of the record." © CRUCIAL BLAST

There ya go. We've got that joint discounted to $9.99 at the moment, and with both formats together (CD and vinyl) you get double trouble on this one.

* BAD SECRETS in the Robotic Empire - Online Store
* YOUNG WIDOWS (and related) in the Robotic Empire - Online Store

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