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The band is obviously very interested in its appearance, not just withregards to identity-obscuring costumes, but in the release only ofconcept albums of the highest technical sound quality. Ideas that nevermade it into album form are hardly ever made public or even discussed,and rehearsal tapes are almost unheard of. Their material from the1970's is perpetually being re-recorded on newer electronicinstruments, remastered according to their ever-higher standards, infive-speaker surround sound. The Residents immediately regrettedreleasing something that was as unfinished and poorly recorded (thetunes were, after all, only for their own rehearsal) as these tunesfrom "Fingerprince", "Mark of the Mole" and "Tunes from Two Cities".These songs would eventually become overdubbed, EQ'd, and edited andcleaned up, but the imperfection evident on "Assorted Secrets" linksthe songs more to the post-punk and DIY bedroom-electronic music thatwas happening at the time. One complaint about the Residents' post-1979output is that it's too sterile. That is certainly not the case here.Thus the reissue exists due to massive pleading by their fans, and notbecause the band is proud that it exists. The original tapes werescrubbed as much as possible for the reissue, but hidden in a cardboardwrapper printed with warnings like "Please go away" and "They hateit!". The band's name does not even appear on the wrapper, but theireyeball-in-a-tophat logo does, albeit with the iris covered with alarge black bar of the type that government informants use to protecttheir identity on TV news programs. The reissue is printed in arelatively tiny pressing of 1200, perhaps with the hope that only thatthe die-hard fans will hear it and stop asking about it, and thegeneral public won't even know of its existence.
The last thing the band probably wants is for some reviewer to suggestto his readers to run out and buy this CD, one of the most excitingdocuments of the band yet. The low recording quality and the rawness ofthe playing makes the Residents sound like a performing band comprisedof real people, as opposed to the slick and streamlined, high-techhi-fidelity group that the band wants you to hear. Four distinctplayers can be heard making mistakes, standing too close to themicrophone, saturating the tape at times, sounding rough and alive in away that's been uncommon for the last two decades of the Residents'recorded career. After all, the Residents are a band that printed awarning right on the back cover of their debut CD, "Meet theResidents", to not buy it if you hadn't already heard the subsequentalbums! Clearly, they shouldn't be the ones to judge. In most cases, Iprefer the versions of the songs on "Assorted Secrets" to the ones thatmade it onto the records. The reason they don't want you to hear"Assorted Secrets" is the same reason why it's great. It contains thepassion of a band that's playing simply to hear themselves, not caringabout what their audience will think. When the band started out, theylaboured under their "Theory of Obscurity", which stated that anartist's best work was done without an audience in mind. Their attemptto downplay "Assorted Secrets" proves that they don't really believethat anymore. Available only at their website, www.ralphamerica.com.
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samples:
- Mrs. Attitude / White Sox and Sandals - Start Walking / Feel Your Way (In My Direction)
- Meatgrowth - Oh No, No Way
- Miss Bill Apauling - Same Place, the Same Cafe, the Same Time
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samples:
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- Albums and Singles
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samples:
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samples:
- a history of guerilla warfare
- we support iran in their bid to win the 1998 world cup
- the black horns of H2T
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- Albums and Singles
![](/../../../../brain/images/mirosubtidal.jpg)
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samples:
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samples:
- Stick That Chick & Feel My Steel Through Your Last Meal
- Nana or a Thing of Uncommon Nonsense
- I was No Longer His Dominant
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- Diane Lewis
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- Albums and Singles
Emptylight and Hed Nod/Hushush gather 15 exclusive 'dark hop' cuts for this 75 minute compilation. Artists include several names I was already familiar with - Mick Harris, Ocosi, Su8m3rg3d, NOS, Dijislov and Not Breathing - and others that are new to me: The Dustmite, Zero ID, Shinitaika, Olivier Moreau, Silk Saw, I-drik, Montagnn, Larvae, Turn and Alien Radio Station. Most all of them do relatively the same thing, here at least, with beefy Scorn styled head nodders.No surprise there, but how do all these artists stack up against Mr. Hed Nod himself, Mick Harris? The shit doesn't really hit the fan (like I want it to) until the 10th track when Montagnn buries the preceding 9, including Harris' brief and squelch-y opener, with a more powerful and gritty attack. Larvae then ups the ante again with an even heavier duty, militant rhythm. Turn go ultra low and slow with seriously phat hip hop. Dijislov and Not Breathing thankfully go well out of their way to *not* sound like a Harris protege/tribute/rip-off with a wider and thus more interesting array of sounds. And that is exactly the issue I have with "Low End Recon" ... the 5 or so artists that aren't afraid to change it up some or get seriously low end really stand out amongst the others' lackluster to average tracks. There are no bad tracks per say, but certain ones you're really tempted to skip directly to and repeat. Harris' Hed Nod LP volume 4 and the final installment of the 'Threesome' series are due out later this year.
samples:
- Dijislov - Madness March
- Larvae - Red Line
- Not Breathing - Short Bus Blues
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