Aaand we're back. I now have a stack of tapes to work through in the next few weeks, so stay tuned.
For tonight, more in the cassingle series from Brendan O'Keefe's increasingly crucial Detrivore. Keller Gould is the not-so-expertly disguised nom-de-folk of a local weirdo guitarist, and it's clear why he's covering his tracks. This side of the cassette represents a foray into new territory, that weird reversal by which playing normal music becomes an experiment. This ain't bad by half, with really nice acoustic guitar work and understated, half-whispered vocals. In fact, nice pretty much sums up this whole business - it's a song about love that sounds like things are okay, and there's even some whistling.
The other half of this tape is Truth Syrum's "Family Matters," and the story couldn't be more different - instead of 'nice,' this is searing, soul-baring, beautifully ugly. There is still a guitar, and there is still a man, and this still might fall somewhere on the 'folk' spectrum. But the sea shanty-hillbilly-Tuvan vocals and their semitone harmonies won't sound quite right to anyone West of Siam, and the blown-out pulsing microcassette guitar sounds just as weirdly exotic - this is the part of the folk spectrum out past 'freak.' But it's more than just weirdness for weirdness' sake; The haunting lyrics and a final cataclysmic crescendo anchor it with undeniable songwriting, making this by far the most essential thing Detrivore has released so far. An absolute must.
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