It’s only 8 pm, I’m only 4 beers into the night, and already
I’ve been offered weed, coke and fucking heroin by three different
street dealers in my neighborhood. Either I look a lot more dissolute than I
see myself as appearing, or I have the phrase “I am a stupid white boy, please
rip me off” written all over my shirt and said street dealers’ English literacy
is a lot higher than I assumed. I mean, yeah, I am a stupid white boy, but 1) I
know my drugs, and the drugs these assholes are offering have nothing to do
with said drugs as I know (know of) them, and 2) I’m no one’s fool but my own,
and yours, dear reader.
On that note, let me introduce you to Portsmouth’s
StandAloneComplex, which I understand to be the solo project of Damon Marcus.
Marcus belts out a slew of tracks in that scuzzy, lofi register you and I both
love. “Crywank” is a good’un ‘cause of the retardedly simple-yet-endearing
guitar wankery that takes over from the acoustic bedroom punk halfway through.
“Canis Major” (“the Greater Dog”) emerges from the trashy lofi gloom enough to
have an identifiable set of chords to accompany Marcus’ croon. “Ursa Minor”
(“[the] Lesser Bear”-someone took intro Latin!) bears more than a passing
resemblance to many a Mountain Goats tune that I’ve drunk myself into oblivion to,
which is a compliment coming from me. SAC doesn’t have the lyrical resonance of
John Darnielle, but hey, who does? It’s a great tune, prolly the best on this
album.
“Thirteen’ is a convincing take on Nick Drake’s finer
moments, but executed with an urgency foreign to Messr. Drake. Anyways, this is
a good album I can heartily recommend to those of you who aren’t gonna remember
yr Saturday night when you wake up on Sunday morning, in the cold grey morning
(as Iron Cross put it), tired, broke, and miserable. SAC is just the thing for
ya-it won’t make you feel better, but it will at least give you the impression
that someone out there recorded an album just for this mood you find yrself in.
Cheer up, bucko, and crack that beer! Hair of the dog is just whatcha need.
Hang out with Stand Alone Complex here.
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