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On the Shelf 216 : Let It Come Down
Aug. 11th, 2020 05:50 pmLet it Come Down is the first major album from Producer/Shimmy Disc honcho Mark Kramer in some time. Kramer is known for a wide list of often-offbeat artists that he worked with such as Galaxie 500,Gwar, Ween, White Zombie, Daniel Johnston, Urge Overkill, King Missile, the Boredoms, Royal Trux, Pussy Galore and Naked City to name some of the many.
As a musical artist, Kramer's biggest contribution was as part of a duo with performance artist Ann Magnuson known as Bongwater. Being active in a few social media communities, people are still discovering this band from the late 80s and early 90s.
The four albums are weird mixes of psychedelia, samples, spoken word, sex, satire, FM Rock, and various other ingredients. Although the provocatively titled Power of Pussy is their most known piece of work, the slightly more accessible The Big Sell Out is my favorite piece of work of theirs. An album that I would at times past, rave about.
In many ways, Bongwater seems a product of their time, and yet, they were such an unusual group, I often think their music perhaps aged well, since it was not beholden to usual standards.
When Magnuson and Kramer broke up romantically and musically, the latter released an ambitious triple record called The Guilt Trip which referenced George Harrison's All Things Must Pass. It was incredibly self-indulgent, but it blew us indie-heads away. It is also the type of album I expected not to hold up nearly 30 years later, but it actually is still quite good in its quirky way.
I was a big enough fan that I picked up the next two Kramer albums, though they were a bit obscure. However, they didn't stick for me. Kramer remained prolific for a time. and I do enjoy the album he did with Penn Jillete as The Captain Howdy which is at least half-brilliant.
From there, I have tried to keep an eye on Kramer, though his releases seemed to dip even obscurer in the new century, with his focus largely on the Brill Building catalog or classical music.
So Let It Come Down is a welcome return with the most conventional and advertised Kramer album in years. The band is also a duo, this time with UK Singer/Songwriter Xan Tyler, though it won't be confused with Bongwater.
Yet in many ways, it does bear a certain resemblance sonically. Closer Three Wishes with its sample would not be noticed appended to a Bongwater release.
The song Forget chosen to be a 'single' to introduce the album to the masses would fit well on The Guilt Trip and has the Beatlesque sound we associate with the Producer.
The Pitchfork review compares the band to another of Kramer's 'discoveries', the band Low; and although Let it Come Down blazes a path beyond Bongwater, "The Guilt Trip" and Low, the are probably the three closest touchpoints for this band. Each song certainly could fit into one of those three sounds.
Songs We Sang In Our Dreams doesn't quite hit the highest highs of Kramer's career, but what is surprising is how close it gets. So an instant cult classic? Sounds about right.
As a musical artist, Kramer's biggest contribution was as part of a duo with performance artist Ann Magnuson known as Bongwater. Being active in a few social media communities, people are still discovering this band from the late 80s and early 90s.
The four albums are weird mixes of psychedelia, samples, spoken word, sex, satire, FM Rock, and various other ingredients. Although the provocatively titled Power of Pussy is their most known piece of work, the slightly more accessible The Big Sell Out is my favorite piece of work of theirs. An album that I would at times past, rave about.
In many ways, Bongwater seems a product of their time, and yet, they were such an unusual group, I often think their music perhaps aged well, since it was not beholden to usual standards.
When Magnuson and Kramer broke up romantically and musically, the latter released an ambitious triple record called The Guilt Trip which referenced George Harrison's All Things Must Pass. It was incredibly self-indulgent, but it blew us indie-heads away. It is also the type of album I expected not to hold up nearly 30 years later, but it actually is still quite good in its quirky way.
I was a big enough fan that I picked up the next two Kramer albums, though they were a bit obscure. However, they didn't stick for me. Kramer remained prolific for a time. and I do enjoy the album he did with Penn Jillete as The Captain Howdy which is at least half-brilliant.
From there, I have tried to keep an eye on Kramer, though his releases seemed to dip even obscurer in the new century, with his focus largely on the Brill Building catalog or classical music.
So Let It Come Down is a welcome return with the most conventional and advertised Kramer album in years. The band is also a duo, this time with UK Singer/Songwriter Xan Tyler, though it won't be confused with Bongwater.
Yet in many ways, it does bear a certain resemblance sonically. Closer Three Wishes with its sample would not be noticed appended to a Bongwater release.
The song Forget chosen to be a 'single' to introduce the album to the masses would fit well on The Guilt Trip and has the Beatlesque sound we associate with the Producer.
The Pitchfork review compares the band to another of Kramer's 'discoveries', the band Low; and although Let it Come Down blazes a path beyond Bongwater, "The Guilt Trip" and Low, the are probably the three closest touchpoints for this band. Each song certainly could fit into one of those three sounds.
Songs We Sang In Our Dreams doesn't quite hit the highest highs of Kramer's career, but what is surprising is how close it gets. So an instant cult classic? Sounds about right.
