ROBOTS AND EMPIRE
Omnivore
(Trip Machine)

NYIA/ANTIGAMA
Split
(SelfMadeGod)

BROWN JENKINS
Dagonite
(Moribund)

SLOTH
A Whole Other World of Fun
(At War With False Noise)

CAN KICKERS
Live at Lavazone
(Fistolo)

LOOM
Angler 

(Exigent)

HATER
The 2nd

(Burn Burn Burn)

MORE REVIEWS

Oh man, what am I doing reviewing this? I don’t even know where to start.  I guess I’ll file under experimental or under punk because basically anything can fall under either category these days, right? I mean our man Daniel Thompson plays, what in any other band featured in Deaf Sparrow,  would be the guitar (mainly this is a matter of prominence), except there are no heavy or sprawling guitars here and Thompson does with the fiddle what any other music fan teenager does with the guitar, and that is treat it with love and candor. There are also drums, vocals and some banjo and some actual guitars but think of Live at Lavazone as a non guitar record. Take my word for it, you are better off thinking that you are in a barn in the South and that is time for rocking. Who you happen to get cozy with is a matter of choice; be it humans, the sheep or the cows.

So the whole approach of the band tilts their genre du jour to country, which is cool and all, I just don’t know what to do with it. We can say punk rock too, because hey, those scruffy beards are as much country twang as ‘can’t afford Bic disposables’ and being poor is kind of country and kinda punk. At times the Can Kickers kick it hard; like my man the fiddler is going nuts with that fucking stick and Daniel Spurr does his vocals almost in rapid fire fashion.  Live at Lavazone was, like its title indicates, actually recorded live in front of a Philadelphia audience which gives the record a real live vibe. Some of it reminded me of one of those very memorable Waiting for Guffman tunes, so really I was ready to get to dancing until I remembered that us foreigners have some sort of digestive problems when it comes down to the fiddle, the hay, the rolled up jeans and shit. I mean; if some of the songs were at least more punkified…I’d have more of an excuse…ahhhh, fuck it.

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