Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Cassette Review: Iain Shaw & David Shrigley "Listening to Slayer" (Already Dead Tapes and Records)


I will admit right away that I spent too long looking for the link on Bandcamp for this one because I was convinced it was actually called "Listening to Slayer" in the sense that was the artist name.   So I actually had to use the catalog number to the point where I was arguing with the website because the artist names didn't match up and then I realized it was actually the title not the artist name which contains Slayer.

Over the course of these six songs, the feeling is generally acoustic.   Most of the songs have this Simon & Garfunkel or something more modern feel to them, where it balances on that line between folk and bedroom music.    It's softer and lighter, even though the first song is about listening to Slayer and so the fact that this isn't heavier is part of the appeal.

At the end of Side A you'll hear a fuzzy rock number called "Hey You" that's along the lines of The Replacements, Pavement, Damn Personals, Soul Asylum-- that sort of rock genre-- and the lyrics in it are about poetry and at one point he asks someone if they're color blind because they don't like his paintings and, yeah, let's just say that I can relate to this song perhaps a little bit too much.

Side B opens with spoken word and it's actually kind of fun because he says that whatever you do you should do it well and I've always believed that.   He does mention calling the police and it shows my mind is on the right page because it's kind of like, if you're going to be a serial killer you might as well be the best serial killer, right?   I might have taken those words a bit too far so don't call the authorities on me.

As much as I enjoy the music on this- and I do- I feel like this is a lyrical cassette in the sense that you wouldn't listen to this one for the music as much as you would for the words.   And, again, it's not a reflection on the music in any way because the music is wonderful, but it is a nice change of pace from what is normally presented in society as music because people don't tend to put as much focus on lyrics as I think they should any more and it's a shame.


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