Wednesday, July 8, 2009

The Rebel on Disques Lexi



Number 003 in the
Disques Lexi catalog is this EP from The Rebel, with more great sleeve art...this label is off with some quality releases right from the beginning, and definitely things I would not have come across otherwise.
There's a great interview here with The Rebel from
Foxy digitalis about the 7" artwork and playing it at the wrong speed (which I did too, maybe inspired by the Mudboy single or maybe just because I also am an idiot), I like his take on being original: it's too easy, choosing a name as ungoogle-able like The Rebel, and literally drawing on an existing 45 sleeve to come up with their art, it's obvious. He's been trying to be original for years and look where it got him. Then I see he's got a new album coming out called 'The Incredible Hulk' and that worked out pretty well, so why not borrow that? An old nazi symbol? Sure, throw that in there.
With songs like 'Aiming low, getting high', it's a syrupy slow catchy, layers of differently affected vocals, different pitches, different lyrics. Slowed down bass...it's like this was played back at half speed...slow guitar meanderings...but then you're singing about getting high so Ben is really going all out for that weed demographic. That's an easy target.

Next up, The Pot is sound collage, backwards beat, kids playing, chanting, synth plodding, repeating....I thought for a minute this was a lock groove, but no, it just goes on and on towards the end.

Next target? Video games. The B-Side has some of the most terrifying glitch electronics that slowly become a casio / gameboy beat...and there's a brief pause before
'Riding in the sun', he's cornering the slowcore low-fi scene. It's a challenge to stick with it. This includes some kind of text being read about world war two, turns out it's from a text, 'The history of the Jews'...well Ben isn't leaving anyone out of his sights, that's for sure.

I think this one is only available so far from Disques Lexi direct.

Lexi003, The Rebel, 'Aiming Low EP' 7-inch
The Country Teasers frontman Ben Wallers (Scotland) is back! Four songs, 2 twisted pop gems, a very nice cover designed by The artist, surprising sleeve notes partly en français s’il vous plait. Aiming Low 7” promotes an album to come at the end of this year on Junior Aspirin.

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