Greg Ginn and the Taylor Texas Corrugators on Electric Cowbell Records

I think this single from Greg Ginn, for me anyway, gets back to the idea about music being universal. It's not about forming a popular band, coming up with a groundbreaking new sound and selling millions.... or else forget it. It starts to feel like music doesn't belong to you, it's not something just anyone can do.
The internet has had a hand in dispelling this myth, since every possible form and level of talent is out there to check out. What's terrible to me might be the greatest thing someone has ever heard. But even more than that, the change in online social media is it encourages people to add their own music content, that music isn't just for cool people or a talented minority, it's a necessity.

I'm only thinking about the current state of things because I can't imagine the musical landscape when Greg and friends were attempting to just do whatever they wanted irregardless of an kind of scene. There was never a master plan, it was absolutely all about the music in it's purest form.
Music, all of art separates us from everything else on the planet, creating something that doesn't have an obvious, immediate evolutionary benefit. The first people here felt some kind of need to express themselves through sound, so that inherent idea is embedded in us somewhere.
It doesn't make sense to count yourself out of fulfilling that because you think you aren't capable of creating. It's not just for geniuses. I guess Karaoke and Rock Band are sort of filling that need for some people, even if it somewhat removed, but we could all take a lesson from Greg and pursue these forms of expression without worrying if it's good enough to hang in the Met. He happens to be that good, but I think the subtext of this single is just of simple self expression, take it or leave it.

On both of these side Greg is playing Guitar, Bass and Organ. It has a laid back vibe of playing through all kinds of takes, not punching anything in, or cutting and pasting…it just patiently waits for the good one. The A-Side, "Freddie" is a classic stoner jam meets the post-compositions of Tortoise. A couple of simple electric melodies weaving in and out of each other like one of those Minutemen interludes. Somehow they found a great groove and didn't overanalyze. June of '44 could find those pitch perfect combinations of institutional/classical underpinnings and indie. That structured kind of improv for Greg and the Corrugators.

The B-Side, "Tea" has that classic rhodes organ sound, the recording is so clear you can hear the creaking of a bench and air rushing out of the pipes. Electric Cowbell describes it as a free jazz haiku, and I like that. You end up anticipating some kind of beginning and instead deal with this brief rising and falling of tempo and instrumentation. The electric gains momentum and dies out just as quickly to make way for something else.
The last sound you hear is a screeching almost like a train coming to a stop.

It's a few moments of chaotic uncertainty in the directionless west.

Great rorschach wraparound sleeve art by Maya Hayuk. Handwritten inner labels by Electric Cowbell who, like Greg, are releasing whatever they hell they want to.

Go check out the tracks and order the 7" on Electric Cowbell.

Electric Cowbell Records is thrilled to release Greg Ginn's first 7" since his years with the seminal American punk rock group Black Flag. Also this single is his first non-SST release after the passing of many moons. A beautiful little cinematic-soundtrack-like gem, Freddie delivers some twang, and what sounds like a sitar, giving this instrumental a Middle-East-Texas vibe. It’s what the Japancakes would sound like if they saw Dallas and kept driving. Slightly sweet, reflective melancholy from a true road warrior of the Oregon Trail of DIY.creditsreleased 01 July 2010
Greg Ginn &
The Taylor Texas Corrugators

Greg Ginn on gtr, bass, and organ
sound, Gary Piazza on gtr, and Sean
Hutchinson on drums

cover art by Maya Hayuk
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