No Pain In Pop

Demob Happy

Speaking to Mike Sniper recently, it was interesting to hear him attempt to define this home recording mo(ve)ment we currently seem to be passing through, as well as his and his label’s place within it. Captured Tracks, he said, isn’t a ‘Punk’ label, nor is it an ‘Indie’ label: rather it should be seen as an independent rock’n'roll label, a prism refracting through it bands like La La Vasquez and Girls At Dawn that may seem vaguely similar, but to busier ears have their obvious differences and personal tics. As for the term ‘lo-fi’ - “too easy”, according to Mike, firstly because it refers specifically to recording techniques not all of the bands involved employ and secondly because it’s already been claimed, by those DIY frustrateds back in the Eighties who’d tend to transpire from nowhere, sullen and staring from the covers of perfect debut 7″s that seemed to simultaneously exhaust any inclination to build a back catalogue. Those sleeves - previously lost to the ambiguity of record shop crates - are pored over now, of course, posted up at ‘blogs like id Reverberations and Pukekos for all to study and re-present in their own image, to mess with, to alter the genetic make-up of just slightly and so now we have this pack of confused, young new Centurians, DIY DNA tamperers, experimenting on themselves, manufacturing their own branch off of the family tree and with it, a kind of righteous authenticity. They may only be one step away from Black Tambourine’s Complete Recordings, but at least they definitely are that one step away, and so in some small way different, mutated, progressed. It’s not just DIY recording, it’s DIY selective breeding: new sub-species emerging every day in a manic fuck frenzy of Eugenic blank dogs. Graffiti Island are Afghan Hounds, Wavves an Alsatian, PENS Chihuahuas.

Something else to emerge from that conversation with Mike was the brilliantly subdued Beach Fossils - or rather my knowledge of Dustin Payseur’s Brooklyn niche, as I doubt even Mr Sniper has the talent-spotting skills to conjure bands fully-formed from the air of a transatlantic phonecall. ‘Vacation’ and ‘Daydream’ may well find a home with Captured Tracks and they drift in the same lax zones as most of Wavves‘ work, i.e. those soft-focus moments between the torturous rites of teenage passage, the holiday, the beach, the street. Beach Fossils are sharper, though - there’s little in the way of fuzz and the thing floats on, meandering to a contented close in carefree clarity.

Thanks to Mike Sniper for the tip.



MP3: Beach Fossils - Vacation



MP3: Beach Fossils - Daydream

Tags: beach fossils, dustin payseur, mike sniper

6 Comments to Demob Happy

1. 

   dude, your. TYPE. SIZE. IS. TOO. SMALL.

   great music links though, thanks.
web designer on May 28th, 2009
2. 

   http://www.myspace.com/fantasyfootball3
Ectoslavia on May 29th, 2009
3. 

   Hi, thanks for this I’d never heard Girls at Dawn before, very flattered to be compared to them. Keep up the good blogging!

   Merida, LLV

   p.s. Where did you meet Mr.Sniper? I’d love to meet him in real life.
Anonymous on May 30th, 2009
4. 

   Thanks Merida. I haven’t met Mike in real life either… was a phoner for NME.
Kev Kharas on May 31st, 2009
5. 

   beach fossils is way better than wavves! don’t lump him in with that guy!
heath on June 4th, 2009
6. 

   Check out our new interview with Dustin of Beach Fossils at http://skipster.us under the features section! Wooo!
Skipster on July 2nd, 2009

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