Saturday, December 15, 2007

Bablicon - Chunks of Syrup Amidst Plain Yoghurt

(Contact, 1999)

Admission! I never liked Bablicon. Watched them in 2000 opening for Olivia Tremor Control and was bored silly by their Chicago post-skronk. Bought a copy of their debut LP and saw it promptly lost in the mail (a big OUCH in poverty-stricken undergrad days). Grabbed Oranged Tapered Moon and was turned off by the sub-Zappa jazz-rock wanksplorations. So surprise surprise, this single (which sounds good at both 45 and 33!) is half decent; A’s like crazy, drunken circus music over cheap beatz; hypno seasickness plus a few tripped-out sitar breaks. Catchy uneasiness the whole way through, and then a brief marching-band outro to seal the deal. Nice! The B-side? Who cares?? Izza lousy mess with an almost-worth-it elec-piano-driven conclusion. Whatever. Focus on the A’s early-Tortoise-isms and be happy. My many hyphens: are they OK??

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