Dead Low Tide - self-titled

Spencer from Dead Low Tide (photo from 10 Things Jesus Wants You To Know)

I was later than I should have been, falling in love with the Murder City Devils. I had written them off initially as hipster rockabilly wannabes, based solely on a picture I saw of Spencer Moody in some fanzine. Nothing about music, mind you. I'd just get hip deep into these weird ass takes throughout my early 20s where I'd lean real hard into hating on something, no matter the evidence to the contrary. I mean, if you're going to have shitty, baseless opinions, your 20s are probably the best time to get them out of the way. So I missed every MCD show that came through Baltimore during their run. Ol' Schmucky Magoo over here didn't get hip until I heard "Press Gang" on a Sub Pop sampler that came thru word in an ADA promo box. And BOY did I feel dumb!

I wasn't going to repeat my mistake when I heard of Dead Low Tide, the band comprised of three ex-Devils and Mike from godheadSilo. They'd self-released a 7" in 2002 that I'd picked up and played to death. When they finally made it East, we had heard they were soon to record their first LP, to be released on NYC's Tiger Style Records. Tiger Style was a label I was already paying attention to; they'd put out the second Convocation Of LP, and had put out some killer Rye Coalition records. They had proven they possessed good taste. Between that, the pedigree, and the 7", I figured I'd be due a good time when I saw them.

All I recall of the night is whiskey, and copious amounts of it. So it's fair I don't remember much more than:
1) I saw them at the Ottobar.
2) I remember Gabe, their roadie of some renown, capering about throughout their set and drinking

Description

Jägermeister with me at some point.
3) I woke the following day at 1pm, having missed a film class and wearing a series of mysterious cuts/scratches on my face and down my body to my knees.
I couldn't tell you who else they played with, how they sounded, who I attended with, or how I traveled the two blocks from the show to my 3rd floor apartment. Did I have a good time? Apparently.

As it turns out, Dead Low Tide were not long for this world. They went home to Seattle, recorded this here slab, and promptly broke up. The end. How anticlimatic.

The record's pretty good, tho.

Discogs

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Enemymine / Vaz

If it feels like a bit of a letdown, after a week of really good records, you're not alone. But trust me: this is a good one, too.

I bought this because of Vaz.  I didn't know anything about Hammerhead when they were active, but Reptilian had put out Vaz's first 7", and I was stoked on how heavy it was. So, you know, why not buy? It turns out that "Blocked By Satellites" became one of my go-to mix tape cuts for the next few years. It's out of step with what I'd experience when I finally saw them a few years later. I wasn't prepared for how much of a goddamned racket they'd be, with trash can lids for crash cymbals and every song like a dive-bomber attacking, even though it was only two fellas playing. I like the way the vocals are recorded here; Apollo Liftoff sounds a little more...romantic crooning, compared to the recording two years later on "Demonstrations In Micronesia". 

This was my first experience with Enemymine, Mike Kunka's short-lived, post-godheadSilo/pre-Dead Low Tide trio from WA state. I honestly don't remember playing this side of the record until a couple years later, but I like it now. It just builds and builds and crashes down on your head in that noisy PNW way that's not quite metal, not quite post-hardcore, not quite math rock.

A shout out while everyone's paying attention to Olympia's Thin the Herd Records, purveyors of this fine slab o' wax. For a label that only existed for three years and a baker's dozen worth of releases, they put out some real solid jams. They released the initial vinyl for the first Vaz full-length, the first Tracy & The Plastics LP, a Teen Cthulhu 7" that I really like, and a weird-ass one-sided Sunn 0))) 12". Sure, this is all some turn-of-the-century PNW weirdness, but everything they put out is well worth tracking down and jamming out to.

Discogs

Click here to download.