March 31, 2010

CLIKATAT IKATOWI - August 29+30 1995

Recorded live at Chicago's Fireside Bowl, this is Clikatat Ikatowi's most essential album, and may be the single best document of the San Diego-Gravity Records axis that spawned such kin as Heroin and Antioch Arrow.  In fact, guitarist Scott Bartoloni left that Heroin to join Clikatat Ikatowi.  The group served as a house band of sorts for The Ché Café, along with Antioch Arrow.  The analog video aesthetic the 90s is forever trapped in has made underground punk of the time look today as grainy and outdated as Edison's vitaphone.  Gravity bands, which sounded like total noise to most people anyway, have emerged on YouTube (here, here, here) as pure white cacophony within the meager limitations of built-in camera mics..  Here the recording is surprisingly balanced, though Mario Rubalcaba's (Rocket from the Crypt, Hot Snakes, Earthless) insane drumming tends to find its way front and center.  The frontman, C. Goldsby, remains obscure and has not been in any other bands as far as I know.  Director John Hughes saw Clikatat play in Chicago and loved them.  He had intentions to release their next album on his own label, but, sadly, he dropped dead walking down the street just 15 years after he had the chance. 

To the working classes...


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

thank you and I loved what you wrote