Search - Various Artists, Bevis Frond, Mary Lou Lord :: Rubric 01

We open with The Alchemysts, a noisy and spacey trio from England ('cept Matt, the Berlin living drummer). "Gone" is the lone track to be recycled albeit a later date when their 3rd full length currently titled Zero Zen (4th if you count the release with Simeon of the Silver Apples) to be released later this year. Their solo set at Terrastock '99 in London rocked the sodden Dave into the clutches of the Woronzow Corporation. The Bevis Frond, featuring the king of Walthamstow, Nick Saloman and one time Hawkwind bassist Adrian Shaw have been so kind as to submit two tracks-one we are leaving for vinyl only entitled "Stay Right There" and "This Ship Has Wings". We have returned the favor by giving them money for recording, and we should see the next Bevis Frond release (Rubric 11) sometime later this year. Seattle's Green Pajamas submitted "She Turns Me On" after the first mastering so they weren't included on the vinyl. The track is an outtake from the brillia! nt Seven Fathoms Down and Falling (Rubric 03) sessions. The Dorset UK lads, The Lucky Bishops, claimed that the two songs they submitted were better than their awe inspiring self titled Rubric album (Rubric 06) before they knew we were putting it out in the US. You'll just have to buy it and decide for your self. We conclude the Woronzow segment with Adrian Shaw solo on a track from his Woronzow CD Headcleaner, entitled "Mobius Trip". My old friend Mary Lou Lord submitted "From Galway To Graceland", a Richard Thompson cover (found on the 3-CD Rykodisc retrospective Watching The Dark) that has become a recent live staple for her this past year. Thanks to Brian Dunton for his work at Fort Apache to get this track wrapped up, Kill Rock Stars for allowing us to use their unfinished scraps and Sony for making us wait half a year for the paperwork before dropping Mary Lou ("like an egg!" she sez). Bo Ramsey is an old friend of Kenny's as well as current guitarist for Greg Brown (most recently played with Ani DiFranco and Gillian Welch) and a veteran of Lucinda Williams live band a couple of years back. He contributes "Poor Backslider". Rubric artist Jimmy Nations, who I've known since his old NC band Brickbat has just wrapped up a full length CD at Brooklyn's Excello Studios for Rubric entitled Tarheel Boogie (Rubric 08) and full of western swing mastery. Rockabilly rebels The Raging Teens chipped in tw! o Sparkletones covers. "Let's Go Rock 'n Roll" will be vinyl only, but "Stayed Out Late Again" is enclosed herein. They will record album #2 for Rubric under the watchful eye of legend Deke Dickerson. The lovely Meaghan Gannett, another good friend of Kenny's, as well as a Billboard award recipient, arouses us with her beautiful Sade meets jazz-era Joni Mitchell vocals for "He Carried Me" to close out the "roots" segment (loosely speaking). For the rock portion of the record, Sweden's Very Ape sent a demo for the hell of it to Kenny who met them in Denmark partying at the Roskilde festival. I put it on and "Back In The ECC" kicked my ass! I love it! A pair of Tim O'Heir productions follows: Iowa's Squidboy (who typically rock out in a Squirrel Bait manner except on "Dirty" where they sound like a gruff Fastway) and Rubric's in-house band, Aytobach Kreisor who take their direction from Blue Oyster Cult and live for one purpose--to rock!!! We have "3rd Half Column" as a vinyl bonus track and "Me, Myself and You" on all formats. America's favorite sons, and Rubric recording artists, The Barnyard Playboys will be releasing their second CD Dumbass On A Rampage (Rubric 10) around the same time as this album. Enclosed herein is an alternate mix of "Breaker 1-9" with organ! Truck driving country and trashy punk rock ethos merge to produce a band that traditionalists hate and beer drinkers love. The infamous recording man leads The Wharton Tiers Ensemble with a track entitled "Lo-Hi" to open up the more "out" segment of the record. In a similar instrumental vein, 2 album veterans (the latest being 3 Sounds on the Grooovy Sounds Unlimited label) Hippopotamus contribute "Dirty Dirt". I met guitarist Mark Maloof in '93 in line at the Grand to see Sebadoh when this band was called Mulch. Back then, they were vocal and noisier (think Charlie era Unsane with a touch of the artier side of Sonic Youth). They have since become more indie-proggish without seeming to have undergone an unnatural progression. Black Helicopter have emerged from the charred ashes of Green Magnet School to pummel you further with "Army Pup Tent" recorded out of their 8-track recording studio. The Zyklon Beatles are led by the irrepressible filmmaker Nick Zedd--vinyl fetishists may have already heard "Consume and Die", a melding of early industrial, no wave and political stump speech which ! was released as a single early this year (Rubric 02). Finally we close with my band, Second Ex-Beatle To Die arising from the ruins of Butt Ox and utilizing the poetic vocalist of the classic Youngstown, Ohio band the Four Fux. Hear the true artistry of my soloing in "A Friend Fighting A Friend", for it is calling you home! David Gwiazdowski Rubric Records Operations Manager