![[shiny grey monotone]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipd6KiHDAbQRs8CrRmxCtqbg5yoSbtwAR2w4FDFERXJfP-Wgf3Cz4jKCnaAK371bePkk6lKYG-xjoKhUdF7yW1blhH6YjV-KoEofpS4GD9XwZyDKQbxxbHb3Q5NFTmvea6ecFdMdVZWqoj/s854-r/1.jpg)
Label: Trance Syndicate
Year: 1993
Earlier I posted Johnboy's second (and final) album, but before I forget I wanted to get their first album up here as well.
How this band flew under the radar is a mystery to me. I only heard about them after the fact, long after they had broken up, and I feel like I'm sorta cool you know? Like, I should at least be aware of the right? My kids think I'm cool...and they're pretty hip themselves, so that should prove my point. Open and shut case your honor, I am cool.
Oh, you were here for the music? Sorry about that last bit.
Johnboy could hold their own with any of the Touch and Go/Amphetamine Reptile/Skin Graft/Homestead bands of that era. They new when to play slow and heavy, and when to get a little mathy. They kept the vocals in he background, and let the music propel the songs along at a quick clip. This record is slightly more unpolished than the second lp, but no less exciting or rewarding. It's got elements of Shellac, Fiddlehead, Bastro, and Glazed Baby all up in this piece.
Like I said, it's weird that Johnboy has not been canonized like so many of their brethren of that early 90s scene, because they are easily as good. Don't sleep on this one, I know you'll like it.
4 comments:
How they got such a full and bizarre sound from just a guitar, bass, and drums is beyond me. An overlooked math rock classic.
I saw these guys with Zeni Geva, Crain, and Don Caballero (right after the first bass player quit for the first time, so they played as a double guitar trio... ugh). Heavy as fuck. They were playing on my college campus in Pittsburgh, which was OK, but I was 21 by then and I would have rather had a beer.
They played at Frijoleros in Athens late 93, early 94 sometime, and I remember Billy Nation and Michael White being super excited about the show. I was into ska then, so my loss.
Thank you so much for posting this. I fucking loved this record back in the day and could never find a copy to replace the one I lost...
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