Designed to feature Austin bands who are still flying under the radar, Casual Victim Pile is the brainchild of Gerard Cosloy, Austin resident and co-founder of Matador Records. Rather than providing a regular review of the record, I decided to instead give my track-by-track thoughts.
Band: Follow That Bird!
Song: The Ghosts That Wake You
Review: Follow That Bird! has come far from the band I saw open for The Eastern Sea at my friend’s co-op and they open Casual Victim Pile like a defibrulator. Their shambling punk sound is tinged with a Southern garage rock edge that calls to mind contemporaries like Heartless Bastards and even a little Black Lips. Unlike the latter though, Follow That Bird! favors precision over sloppiness and “The Ghosts That Wake You” is an appropriate propulsive beginning to the compilation.
RIYL: Sleater Kinney, Heartless Bastards
TUIW Grade: B+
Band: The Young
Song: Blister
Review: The Young are reverb-soaked lo-fi – with an art rock edge – and may or may not have swiped Les Savy Fav’s Tim Harrington to sing vocals. “Blister” starts with an in-medias-res fade-up and builds from there. The Young’s ambition exceeds their modest production values – the song’s builds and fades are reminiscent of Broken Social Scene, but condensed into a much smaller package. Even if it seems like they’re rushing to fit a whole bunch of ideas into one 3-minute song , “Blister” is never boring and a good indication of the potential that The Young has.
RIYL: LSF meets Wavves
TUIW Grade: B
Band: Woven Bones
Song: Spirits Roam
Review: Now I wanna be your dooooog. Iggy meets the Stones with a lithe, sinewy rock sound that, unfortunately, never quite adds up to more than the sum of its easily identifiable forebears. Still, their pulsing, nasty energy has its appeal and their show is a lot of fun.
RIYL: Classic rock or Detroit Punk
TUIW Grade: C
Band: Flesh Lights
Song: Crush on You
Review: Flesh Lights is one of the bands making their recorded debut on Casual Victim Pile and they ooze potential. “Crush on You” is straight out of the Ramones playbook, and despite clocking in at under 3:00, it is at least a minute too long. That said, Flesh Lights have oodles of energy and a charming sloppiness, not to mention perfect timing since their sound would fit in right alongside The Smith Westerns, Surfer Blood, Girls, or any of the other beach party bands that the indiesphere has spawned in the last year or so.
RIYL: The Ramones, The Smith Westerns, The Wonders
TUIW Grade: B
Band: Dikes of Holland
Song: Little City Girl
Review: Another debut band, but this one was less rewarding. Give Josh Homme crappy recording equipment and way too much echo on the vocals and you might produce something like “Little City Girl,” which wouldn’t sound out of place on a Madden Soundtrack.
RIYL: Queens of the Stone Age, Dead Kennedys
TUIW Grade: C-
Band: Tre Orsi
Song: The Engineer
Review: Definitely my favorite of the first side, Tre Orsi fits right in with other 90s revivalists like Cymbals Eat Guitars. Featuring dynamic, J. Mascis-style guitars and appropriately dispassionate vocals, Tre Orsi’s winning shamble is definitely one of the highlights of the compilation (which makes it a little sad that they’re actually from Denton…)
RIYL: Built to Spill, Dinosaur Jr, Sonic Youth
TUIW Grade: A-
Band: The Distant Seconds
Song: Akron Bureau
Review: Hardcore meets post punk meets 70s guitar heroics meets an extremely competent and passionate lead singer (which is a rather winning combination around these parts). What “Akron Bureau” lacks in originality (in addition to Ted Leo, there’s a whole lot of Spoon in this song), it makes up for in energy and sheer competence.
RIYL: Ted Leo, Wire, Spoon
TUIW Grade: B
Band: Kingdom of Suicide Lovers
Song: Hoboken Snow
Review: “Hoboken Snow” starts off like “Love Will Tear Us Apart” before morphing into “Teenage Riot,” but unfortunately that’s too literal of a description of this song. Still this is a new band (making their debut) and they’ve already got a pretty solid command of what they’re doing (including guy-girl vocals that share as much with Ira-Georgia as they do with Thurston-Kim). Given the potential they showed here and in shows around town, I’m excited to see where Kingdom of Suicide Lovers goes next.
RIYL: Sonic Youth, Yo La Tengo
TUIW Grade: B-
Band: Elvis
Song: Mommy’s Little Soldiers
Review: Pure, simple, and nasty, Elvis’ dark, mucky blues rock feels like a cough syrup trip and, while I originally found them a little too self-consciously weird, this song has definitely grown on me (especially when the Adam Sandler sound-a-like comes in towards the middle). They’re here in Austin with a rabid fanbase, but haven’t found broader success. I’m still not totally convinced, but their show is a sight to behold and “Mommy’s Little Soliders” is the nastiest song here.
RIYL: Early White Stripes, Josh Homme
TUIW Grade: B
Band: Love Collector
Song: First 48
Review: Fast punk with a dose of rockabilly and a tinge of pop that doesn’t overstay its welcome, “First 48” is unreasonably catchy and fun. Love Collector often sounds just barely on the edge of control, and the shout-along, answer vocals are a nice touch. All in all, this song is just a lot of fun.
RIYL: Buzzcocks meets Buzzcocks
TUIW Grade: B+
Band: Bad Sports
Song: Can’t Remember Your Name
Review: The guitar riff here keeps reminding me of “Rock N Roll All Nite” and the song is definitely in that blues rock tradition. Its muscular and, at under 2 minutes, doesn’t really last long enough to leave a bad taste, but its still derivative and unsatisfying.
RIYL: Rolling Stones, Eagles of Death Metal
TUIW Grade: C
Band: Wild America
Song: Drink It Dry
Review: Wild America has actually been getting a lot of buzz around town, so maybe this song isn’t representative, but I was not impressed. The guitar is punk-by-numbers and the vocals are too low and murky to make an impact. There’s something a little joyless and generic about “Drink It Dry” which comes into sharp relief when compared to the number of similar, but generally better executed songs on this compilation.
RIYL: 70s punk, but don’t seem to have any of those records around
TUIW Grade: C-
Band: Harlem
Song: Beautiful and Very Smart
Review: Harlem’s on the verge of exploding (just signed to Matador, making them the only semi-ringers on this comp) and its easy to see why. The innocent (yet slightly creepy), lo-fi, garage rock anthem “Beautiful and Very Smart” was the explosive stand-out on Free Drugs and is still just as great. While their first album left me with concerns about their ability to carry this level of energy and fun over an entire album and their show is still at Natalie Portman in Garden State levels of self-conscious whimsy, “Beautiful and Very Smart” gives me hope for Harlem’s future.
RIYL: Black Lips, Vivian Girls
TUIW Grade: A
Band: The Stuffies
Song: No One’s Gonna Miss You
Review: Unlike Wild America, The Stuffies sound legitimately out of control, reminiscent of early Replacements with a CBGB edge. The highlight of “No One’s Gonna Miss You” is the breakdown from the middle, where you can picture the band members stopping to catch their breath before tearing into the exciting conclusion. The Stuffies boast a winning, youthful exuberance that sounds amatuerish in the best way possible.
RIYL: Replacements, Buzzcocks, Ramones
TUIW Grade: B+
Band: The Golden Boys
Song: Older Than You
Review: The Golden Boys have one of my favorite shows of the bands on this album, so I was primed to enjoy “Older Than You,” but after listening to 14 songs that exist in roughly the same post-punk and blues rock realm, “Older Than You” also serves as a nice palette cleanser. The song infuses its basic 70s rock with some R&B organs and a vocalist who wouldn’t be out of place in a honky-tonk bar. Compared to the younger bands on CVP, The Golden Boys sound more polished, but there’s a clarity and originality to their sound that is a welcome change of pace. And even more than that, “Older Than You” is just a lot of fun. Definitely recommended
RIYL: Cheap Trick meets Motown meets Sly meets Drive-By Truckers
TUIW Grade: A
Band: The No No No Hopes
Song: Nobody’s Fool
Review: “Nobody’s Fool” starts with a teasing guitar chime before getting very nasty, very quick. The No No No Hopes have more of a hardcore edge than other, similarly bluesy bands on CVP, thanks mainly to vocalist Desmond Connolly’s gruff screaming. The band members are all indie lifers who bring weary experience and an impatient swagger to “Nobody’s Fool.” At times, that attitude can go too far (I probably could have done without the spoken word finish) but it makes for an engaging listen.
RIYL: No Age, Fucked Up
TUIW Grade: B-
Band: The Teeners
Song: Nazis on Film
Review: The Teeners broke up recently, which is sad because “Nazis on Film” shows that they were just starting to hit their stride. Their deranged, propulsive energy comes through on “Nazis on Film” (which isn’t even my favorite Teeners song) that keeps one foot in hardcore without going full Fugazi. If this really is the end of the road for The Teeners then at least they go out as defiant and wrathful as ever.
RIYL: Husker Du, The Replacements
TUIW Grade: B-
Band: The Persimmons
Song: The Notice
Review: “The Notice” sounded a little A Place to Bury Strangers covering “The Rat.” There’s a lot of pedals and effects, but the song just kind of sits there, too inert and proggy for its own good. Things pick up in the back half (especially the “you’ve got the notice on your wall” sing-along) and, to be fair, The Persimmons are among the rookies on CVP, but “The Notice” is full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
RIYL: APTBS, Prog rock
TUIW Grade: C-
Band: Lost Controls
Song: Entirely Wired for Sound
Review: I’m pretty sure this is the most prominent use of anything electronic or synth related on the entire compilation, but its in service of another weak Madden Soundtrack song. I kind of get what Lost Controls was going for, but “Entirely Wired for Sound” can’t overcome its generic cock-rock feel and asinine lyrics like “the world has a lack of stimuli for me.”
RIYL: Nine Black Alps, later Dandy Warhols maybe?
TUIW Grade: C-
General Thoughts on the Comp: After being mostly great for its first two-thirds, Casual Victim Pile kind of runs out of steam towards the end. But even though I may have graded individual tracks harshly, I was still quite pleased with the compilation. As someone aligned with Gerard Cosloy’s goals (and even if he was joking, the fact that he said in the press release that the compilation’s alternate title was Please Kill Bob Schneider made me smile) I was pleased to see some of my favorite Austin bands get the larger showcase they deserve. That being said, I’m struck by how narrow the range of music is. I recognize that Cosloy just wanted to make a compilation of bands he likes listening to and didn’t hold any pretensions on capturing the entire Austin scene, but the record’s title is an anagram of Live Music Capital and it is subtitled Austin 2009. The Austin described by Casual Victim Pile is, at times, as frustratingly narrow as the country and singer-songwriter image that Cosloy is fighting against. There’s no sign of bands like No Mas Bodas, Moth Fight, and Yellow Fever, who are taking CVP’s punk aesthetic and stretching its sound in ambient, electronic, and atmospheric directions. But its hard to complain about a compilation that succeeds as consistently as Casual Victim Pile does.
Overall TUIW Grade: B+
P.S. Beerland is hosting three nights of shows with almost every band from Casual Victim Pile (no Tre Orsi or Teeners) on February 4-6. I’m going to try to go to the Thursday and Saturday shows, so track me down and say hey if you’re there.
Michael
ulyssesworkman
awarshauer
