From Aaron S. Gregory Sent Fri, Nov 7th 1997, 21:51
From Aaron S. Gregory Sent Fri, Nov 7th 1997, 21:51
here ya go: my take on the solvent/lowfish mania. enjoy it, kids -- asg * * * Lowfish/Solvent - Suction 12" The scene: Canada. The players: Lowfish (aka Gregory DeRocher) and Solvent (aka Jason Amm). The medium: lo-fi distortion on vinyl. The winner? Suction Records. Emerging from Canada, the Suction crew come through with an absolute monster of a debut with a split EP from the aforementioned culprits. In all, six tracks (3 from each) and 18 minutes of lo-fi crunch backed by some hard-as-nails break patterns. Side one opens this monster with well...a monster, in the form of Lowfish's Helsi Gotenks, a vicious five minute effort that slurs and swirls around some bone-crunching breaks, reminiscent of Dylan Nathan's (aka Jega) stuff of Skam. Eventually, a searing synth line appears and cuts through all the (awesome) clutter. For some odd reason, I think of Mike Paradinas when I hear it (the aforementioned synth line), although Lowfish sounds more serious, as opposed to the playful tone of the Mu-Ziq man. Solvent's chance comes next with a track that that draws heavily from local influences it seems. The squelch, the beats and the weird atmosphere could have easily been found on the Metic EP (on the US Schematic label), while the bassline is pure David Kristian (circa Ectopic Beat EP, on Oakland's own Drop Beat label), that is, when David's doing his drum and bass thang. The flip side brings four more ditties that could make any Skam-a-holic's dream come true. Everything from pumping, 4-4 distorted throb to the raw, unadulterated sound of a lo-fi crunch. Hell, at times, it's so raw and harsh, you might even think you're listening to another Canadian outfit, Front Line Assembly (the early years). The last cut, however (Castles by Lowfish) is almost a classical piss-take with it1s wartime theme and upright, march-type drum tracks. What a dramatic closer to an outstanding effort. There actaully is a seventh (untitled track) but when it sounds like a infant squandering the concept of speech repeated over and over for 30 seconds, I'm not sure what to call it. Regardless, the Suction crew have made their mark. They've come, they've kicked some arse, and they've put Canadian lo-fi on the map. They've got my attention, at least.