David Grubbs:
The Plain Where
The Palace Stood:
Drag City:
Out 15th April
2013:
6/10
Unless you're
thoroughly acquainted with this man's idiosyncratic experimental rock
kerfuffle, David Grubb's bullish take on the avant-garde might unnerve you a
little - hell, it might even repulse you, such is its relentless monotonous
composite. But take your time, fill your pipe with happy herbs and relax - The
Plain Where The Palace Stood might turn out to be your friend after all.
The album is
comprised of eleven tracks that, suggests the PR blurb, borrow from the likes
of Sunn O))) and Scott Walker, as well as Talk Talk (presumably Laughing
Stock-era TT, not It's My Life). I can hear bits of Pavement, some Mogwai and
Slint, even a smattering of Julian Cope at his most arcane - in fact, Grubbs
sort of sounds like lots of music enjoyed by me when I had a late '80s penchant
for SST Records - Blind Idiot God, Lawndale, Black Flag, hey it's all good.
The
only gripe is that for every super track like Ornamental Hermit, there's an
unseemly cacophony to hand to nullify my senses into a near-coma - A View of the
Mesa and Abrcadabrant cases in point. I fear Mr Grubbs may be just a little too out there for peeps on this side of
the pond.
For more info about David Grubbs, try his label Drag City here