Bought this tape from ebay as a birthday gift to myself.
For almost a year now I've been digging deep in the No Wave scene. And who better stands for the No Wave scene than Lydia Lunch? A pioneer in all forms and shapes of art related to the No Wave scene.
Anyway, this tape (also released on 2-LP and 2-CD, but my financial situation only allowed me to get the tape, this time) contains songs from the Teenage Jesus & The Jerks-era (Red Alert, Orphans, The Closet, Burning Rubber, I Woke Up Dreaming, Freud In Flop, Baby Doll, Race Mixing, Crown Of Thorns), recordings from the single year of Beirut Slump (Try Me, Staircase, I Am The Lord Jesus, Case #14, See Pretty, G-I-Blue, Tornado Warnings, Sidewalk), a number of 8 Eyed Spy tracks (Swamp, Run Thru The Jungle, Motor Oil Shanty, Love Split W/Blood, Ran Away Dark, Diddy Wah Diddy, Lazy In Love, Dead Me You B Side) and three selected tracks of collaborations with other known artists "I Fell In Love With A Ghost" (Mick Harvey, Rowland Howard, Barry Adamson and others), "Der Karibische Western" (w. Die Haut) and "As She Weeps" (w. Sort Sol).
Being familiar with most of the tracks from both Teenage Jesus and 8 Eyed Spy, side A is no surprise, sound wise. But the dirty as hell sonic attack that was called Teenage Jesus & The Jerks is so fucking excellent. There has never been a band since then sounding like this. It's so fucking harsh, in your face, wrong, ugly, bad ass. I love this fucking group!
The tracks from 8 Eyed Spy feels misplaced, I expected the Beirut Slump tracks to come inbetween the two, since it's according to Lunch's timeline, but the spies comes directly after beeing assaulted by a certain Teenage Jesus.
A lot of more classic rock has snuck into the music, but this is by no means regular rock music. I thought I hadn't heard the last track on this tape with them, "Dead Me You B side" earlier, but it's on the compilation I have from Atavistic. Anyway, I think this one is live, and it's a creepy and slimey fucking track. For me, it was like discovering a new song, and it's a magnificent evil piece of music that you should plug into your ears!
Turning the tape I get to know Beirut Slump for the first time, and I friggin' bow my head! The vocals, mostly handled by Bobby 'Berkowitz' Swope are grim. The sound is more Teenage Jesus than 8 Eyed Spy, it's a little less chaotic, darker and more lurking than the Jerks and I have come across another act to love.
Seems like it's time to get that Teenage Jesus & The Jerks / Beirut Slump split(compilation) "Shut Up and Bleed" I've been checking out on ebay.
Now, for the final three tracks.
"I Fell In Love With A Ghost", the music shouldn't come as any surprise to those who are familiar with The Birthday Party and the early Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds. Slow, haunting and with Lunch's "don't-really-give-a-fuck-if-you-think-it's-pretty-or-not" vocals. The guitars are a bit more subtle than usual for a man like Rowland Howard, but this a great friggin' track!
"Der Karibische Western" sounds like a country/cowboy/post-punk-bastard. Can't really remember what the Die Haut album with Nick Cave on guest vocals sounds like, but it might be time to pick that up again and give a spin.
"As She Weeps" reminds, musically, of "I Fell In Love...", slow, melodic and with an excellent vocal approach by Lunch.
Seems like I need to get myself the vinyl version of this as well. A tape holds glory that a CD never will, but vinyls rule the musical world.
