Twelve
strangely detuned miniatures in which Small Things tweak and twist some
of the practices that have hardened what's come to be called post-rock and/or
lo-fi into rote exercises. The initial ten plus minutes of stunted and twisted
guitar melodizing, "Legacy
is a Bus," throw down the gauntlet right away. It's as if main
Thing Andrew Clare wants to baffle the listener with a mixture of Slovenly
guitar tangle and Young Marble Giants low-key pop. As strange as this CD
sounds at times, it is also focused. The appeal is in this combination of
understated instrumental exploration and the verges of pop song structure.
The listener becomes vaguely uncomfortable sensing some impossible to follow
line, improvising, and experimenting. A balance is struck, but it's a moving
balance and somewhat vertiginous. A trickling little melody escapes from
"Hello.
I Am Antler Spice" as instruments col- lide and insinuate themselves
into each other "Ibrox
to Tolzbad" begins like some children's toy synth undergoing
a surge of electricity. Clare has a loyalty to seemingly dinky little sounds,
sounds that on their own seem piddling, but when combined together by him
have great effect. Small Things also bust out some serious feedbacknoise
on "Please
Hammer Don't Hurt Them." "Walking
There and Back Again" features
a carefully unfurled, sweet little melody played with a soft touch. Keep
Calm— and Dig is going to take some work and some getting used to. I'll
probably pull it off the shelf quite a bit in the weeks to come. Small Things
are taking the minute tools that those in search of other more "important"
forms of music from "post-rock" to "lo-fi" and "free improv" have abandoned—plucks
and bleeps and quivers—and made something unique and appealing. There's
evidence not only of hard work here, but of a singular aesthetic that will
survive after a lot of grand statements have been forgotten. Queasy and
appealing. [Infinite Chug, 14 Worcester Close. Langdon Hills, Essex, SS16
6TW, U.K.] Bruce
Adams
|
SMALL THINGS
keep calm ~ and dig CD
{Your Flesh}
|
TRUMAN'S WATER
/ I'M BEING GOOD
{melody
maker, 12.12.98}
|
It's
the I'M
BEING GOOD side you'll be wanting to hear, wherein Brighton's
finest grimacing/grunty noise band pretent they're covering "Live And
Let Die" and let rip with their punk rock chug style. It's the sound
of how bored you become when kids in the backyard keep aiming fireworks
at your window panes and you have nothing better to do than let the window
down. Nifty hand made luxury sleeve, too. And yes, the TRUMAN'S WATER side
is neato hardcore noise experimentation. Pavement? get the fuck outta my
sight! Please.
Everett True
|
BALD MERMAID
let us be your snails LP
{your
flesh 36}
|
An
impressive clatter rules the roost at Chateau Bald Mermaid:from the very
beginning of this LP a combination of kitchen sink percussion, tape loops
and effects lays down a consistent jitter that runs across the album. A
note from the label intimates that both Bald Mermaid and the album by the
Small Things feature members of a band called I’m Being Good. Knowing
nothing about the latter, i can only assume that these are home recordings
of some type. For Bald Mermaid that must mean constant frittering with tape
decks. Let Us Be Your Snails jumps and twists from song to song with hardly
room for rest or relief. As a matter of fact, yes, it can be irritating.
There are also nuggets of goodness to be found as the sheer number of songs
(i count sixteen) yields up some bite-sized mixtures of melodic savvy amidst
the angular skree. Infinite Chug plan on releasing a Derek Bailey / Thurston
Moore Collaboration called XIII Ghosts; that ought
to give you a rough idea of the territory Bald Mermaid is occupying, albeit
in a less serious manner. I can’t attest to the long-term listening
value of this album. It does have a neat silk - screened cover (Sperm Whale
vs. Giant Squid!) and is limited to a pressing of 271 if those sorts of
factors sway you at all. [Infinite Chug, 14 Worcester Close, Langdon Hills,
Essex, ss16 6tw,UK]
Bruce Adams
|
One
of Andrew Clare’s many musical toys, and this is a particularly whacked
out one, combining the cut up discharge of Truncated Spur with I’m
Being Good’s more crazed moments. I bet he had alot of fun. 8/10
joe morris
|
BALD MERMAIDLet
Us Be Your Snails LP
{speeder#3}
|
|
SMALL
THINGS Pregnant Longer Than Humans
LP
{your
flesh 36}
|
Amiable,
low key and somewhat dissonant, Small Things sort of amble along in a
barely coherent manner. The guitars interweave and bob like a drugged
up Uncle Wiggly, minus that band’s sharp interplay. The woozy meandering
reaches peak effectiveness by the second track (there are three cuts on
the album), by which time the listener comes to accept the band’s
peculiar logic. Small Things take the deliberate ineptness favoured by
many american indie bands and channel it into instrumentals that establish
their own logic where bass, drums and guitar are in no hurry to lock into
step. Nothing here will grab you immediately, it might even turn you off
at first. The sweet and (mostly) sour clutter of the second side long
track “develops” more quickly than the tracks on the first,
but that leaves Small Thing a structure that they they can more effectively
allow to decay. Some strange woodwind sounds and percussive aids appear
amidst the serpentine guitars. And somehow the whole process begins to
make itself more intriguing. I could do without the noisy crescendo at
the end, but Small Things have made an interesting album nonetheless.
[Infinite Chug, 14 Worcester Close, Langdon Hills, Essex, SS16 6TW, UK]
Bruce Adams
|
|
I’m
being good offer up the only worthy release, the rest being entirely forgettable
lo - fi scratchy tape compilation jobs not really worthy of vinyl release.
Oh well, one out of four isn’t bad... ho hum... bugger.4/10
joe
morris
|
Various
- 4track 4 track (slampt)
{speeder#3}
|
SMALL THINGS
Pregnant longer than Humans LP
{vertigo#5}
|
debut
lp of lo fi improvised jazz form that pocket of underground weirdness known
as brighton and eastbourne(?!)... Small things play all manner of instruments
in a style that some lazy reviewer could probably lump in with Tortoise
or someone, but they’re not as carefully crafted as that. This music
is more loose and free flowing, meandering in it’s own time and space
and building up to crescendos which melt away into an array of plinks, plonks,
and subtle guitar riffs.Connoisseurs of several vertigo club/pop narkotics,
Small Things always put on a great show. Last time, andrew played slide
guitar with 2 broken fingers and jase was spotted doing a bit of scratching
on a kid’s toy record player. This LP has hand crafted sleeves, this
particular one has cut-outs of carrots, beans, and peas being grown in jam
- jason the front, and some very fetching tropical birds on the back.
|