Search - Grifters :: Crappin You Negative

Their Best

Evan A Genest | Hsinchu Taiwan | 02/21/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Crappin You Negative is by far the best Grifters album. I'm drawn by the sloppy playing, low fi sound, lyrics by Tennessee art school grads crossed with ancient Greek mythology, super cool production. I keep this on the shelf next to Husker Du Zen Arcade for alphabetical as well as conceptual reasons. Both are bands with strong songwriting, the ability to blast noisy, berserk rock. To compare them with another great, defunct group, there is a slight Pavement connection. Whereas Pavement in later years emulated the Stones' country twang, the Grifters are more on about Keith Richards loose, careless guitar playing. They must have made a deal with the devil pictured on the cover of this album though, because, for just this one shining release, everything came together for Grifters. After this their stagecoach turned back into, if not a pumpkin, maybe a rusty '73 Chevy Vega. I have always assumed that after Crappin You Negative, certain pivotal band members either started using drugs or maybe stopped using drugs. Either way, it's our loss that they only hit the stratosphere for this one release. Kind of a shame their spending all their most exciting years on their little Shangri-La records. Their light was hidden from the rest of the world. Now they could be like Wire or Rudimentary Peni, bands that influence other later bands but are rarely heard themselves. Did they ever consider Touch and Go? That would have been a great label for them. Anyway, I never get tired of listening to Crappin You Negative. Its somehow the last great Rolling Stones album, the album The Stones would have made if they could have stayed relevant much past 1975. On Crappin You Negative check out Junkie Blood, Bronze Cast, and Piddlebach. (A question: on Piddlebach, is that language American Indian? Gaelic? It's really bugged me for a long time¡K)"

Amazing rock n roll meltdown

Evan A Genest | 09/14/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This record will kick you, turn you inside out, love you, and then leave you pushing replay again and again. It won't ever be far from your CD player, especially if you don't care about genres, but just like original, exciting, soulful, beautiful noise. Innovative (not superfluous) tempo and genre changes, sweet singing and angry growling, fast-driving fury to poignant pop -- from the quiet fury of Dead Already, Felt-Tipped Over, and Junkie Blood to the funked up anthem rockers of Rats, Spaceship, and Cinnamon -- this album's greatness does not once let up. Fans of GBV, Sebadoh, The Beatles, and Big Star. This band is shamefully underrated, and this is their opus. Buy it. A couple of listens later, you will "get it" and won't be able to live without it, and then you'll be spreading the gospel too. Let's just hope they don't break up before they realize how much we all need them."

Beautiful blaring dischordance - a nearly perfect rock album

Evan A Genest | 09/15/1998

(5 out of 5 stars)

"a wholly beautiful and haunting record that you'll be humming long after the first listen. the grifters delve beneath the ordinary and create a near religious experience on crappin' you negative, their most complete and powerful offering. blaring dischordant harmony is carved into urgent, highly literate, stream-of-conscious pop masterpieces written from a space traveler's viewpoint."