Split LP
Label: Sickroom
Length: LP
Media: CD
Format: Album
WorkNameSort: Split LP
Put together as a fund-raiser for Children’s Musical Education in St. Augustine, the sonic collision of the gauzy, warm-toned digital swoon of Howard Hello and the full-frontal math-rock attack of Greenness doesn’t seem to make sense. But while those two projects’ outward contrasts are most striking, this two-CD package ultimately ends up being perversely logical. In addition to the five HH tracks and the four Greenness cuts, there are an extra 11 songs here by nine other bands that spin around those two acts’ personnel axes. The inclusion of projects like Library Tapes, Species Being and Sunset Club might individually be just as puzzling, but the collective impact of all the sounds here ‘ from punk and spaz-rock to weirdo improv freak-out and collagist pop ‘ all comes back to a single mindset that involves poking at the outer edges of the ‘alternativeâ?� envelope. The pedigrees of the artists involved here are noteworthy, with various hands having worked with the likes of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Triclops and 31 Knots, but the easy adventurousness the players bring to each of these diverse projects is what makes this Florida-grown production impressive.
This article appears in Jul 4-10, 2007.