How fucking true is that? The only thing that would have made the comic better, is if he had been pushing a wheelbarrow full of records, gotta have some selection. I was trying to explain to someone the other day, how a friend of mine, over 30 years ago, had told me that a wave (analog) represented sound so much more accurately than binary code (digital). You can really tell the difference in listening and I do prefer vinyl over CDs, but that's just because I'm a nostalgic motherfucker. Just learned a couple of years ago that 45 rpm is better sounding than 33 rpm...has something to do with the length of the grooves. I get this audiophile catalog in the mail every so often, they sell all kinds of outrageous stereo equipment and also represses of albums on 2 45 rpm 12"s, none of which I can afford to buy...but a guy can dream.
I have missed out on a hell of a lot of raging Humboldt music since leaving there 20 odd years ago, may as well be 200 years ago. My latest discovery at the hands of Jeff Langdon via Faceplant is a band called Ravens featuring stellar front woman Melissa Medina. I posted a sampling of her epic vocals when she did a Beatles cover, fronting for The Hitch...
The Hitch - Come Together
This time around, you get more of a straightforward rock and roll thing, but you know that over the top RnR boogie you can only get straight out of Humboldt. Kind of a stoney, bluesy harmonica infused, garaged vibe...a garage surrounded by redwoods, ferns and banana slugs. They have a Myspace (but the tunes on there belong to another band with the same name, strange), a bunch of vids on Youtube and I think they were one of the bands featured on the Rural Rock N Roll documentary (essential viewing). According to Jeffe, "Recorded at the raven's practice space 2004 on south g street in arcata. engineered and mixed by jeff langdon on an adat 8 track recorder. featuring melissa medina on vocals, kevin harp on guitar, mike donahoe on bass, and bandon wayne on drums." Here it is where Jefe put it at Soundcloud.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUtwd9VtBJI&w=560&h=315]
Yet another Humboldt band I missed, seeking my fame and fortune in the big city, was Letterbomb. I had asked Rob Perkins if he had been in any other bands since Grimace and he turned me onto them. According to their Myspace they were active around 00's, but I don't know anything else except the low down he gave me, "im playing drums morgan on guitar Gregg Mall on bass and Vince signing..we did this in one take..so it has some slop...4 songs one right after the other no stopping. but its pretty much exactly how we sounded live..we were fun to watch and tight ! we had good equipment so our shows sounded good." Actually I do know something about the band, they fucking killed it. For doing this in one take, they didn't miss a beat. Kind of a sped up melodic hardcore thing, with just the slightest of metalic-ness shining through. Think Bad Religion mixed with Suicidal Tendencies, but of course with that Humboldt made rubber stamp of approval. I wouldn't expect anything else from Rob of Grimace or Morgan of One Man Running...I don't remember the other two guys from my being up there. Listening to the tunes again, just now, it's amazing how fast they are chugging along and still maintaining any semblance of melody. This is a band that I would have definitely liked to have seen live. The "hits" in my opinion are "Cycle" and "Reflecions"...
Cycle Don't Hesitate Embrace Reflections
EDIT: The links are dead and I don't talk to Rob anymore, he "unfriended" me on fucking FB, apparently he's kind of an alt-right type person now, so I have no way of getting them back. Too bad, as these guys really shredded...
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