For years, the music that has felt the most punk rock to me has not been made been punk bands at all. To me, punk has become more of a folk tradition, like blues and jazz, as something that was once great, but has become so formulaic that it can never again be what it used to be.
The things that feel the most punk rock to me are noise albums and artists like Gunmothers Head. Gunmothers Head is Tucker Haendler (Buffalo Voice, These Creatures) and it is so raw that it would be a sin to not call it punk.
For me, it exists somewhere in a nether region where old folk, feedback-y noise, and the feeling of punk rock meet and see how they are all alike long enough to make an album. Her Husband Didn't is the first release from Gunmothers Head and is only available on casssette tape (how about that for punk cred?), released on Olympia's Ick Ick Records, one of the three or four tape-only labels in Olympia.
While giving obvious nods to what inspires him (John Frusciante, Townes Van Zandt, Roky Erickson), his music is a brand in and of itself. The two songs below are so far apart, yet make so much sense on the same album; "Snow and Gold" is absolute beauty, one of my favorite songs of the last month or so. "Under You Around" is what sold me on Gunmothers Head, so dirty, mic feedback that makes me feel crazy inside.
Gunmothers Head- Snow and Gold
Gunmothers Head- Under You Around
No comments:
Post a Comment