Liquor Store on Almost Ready Records

I regret missing Liquor Store the night of a crazy god damn downpour when they opened for Ty Segall at DBA. My friend Ryan told me later, they have a song called 'Trash Sandwich' which is the B-Side of course, these guys know what they're doing. Go read this Vice Interview.

I love when a band like this is completely committed to this brainless sentiment, I mean free pizza? That sounds like heaven...and then a coupon for actual free pizza at moustache? Is that place even still around?
From the first grimy riff and empty spring reverb yell, they're coming up with a crowd cheer, F - R - E - E... Pizza of course. It almost sounds like a Dr. Demento commercial jingle, that hot rod greaser sound off the strip. Like a warped happy days, the kids are screaming, but it's because there's blood everywhere. There was a freak accident with the jukebox and the fonze's arms were ripped off in the milkshake machine.
When a band like this is so intent on almost calling themselves jackasses I have to reconsider people whining about their breakups or terrible childhoods. It's so easy to focus on that bummer stuff. When you really reach deep down into the primal unconsciousness to find what's buried there....I guarantee it's free pizza.
There's no need for a sleeve here, I get it, that would almost go against the entire concept, plus you actually get free pizza, they deliver on that promise, so suck it.
The B-side gets away from that completely goofy delivery but they're still focused on food, this time it's that 'Trash Sandwich' track, that's an important line they really want to get across, repeating it over and over.
Both sides are completely unmastered and blown out. But why would you have it any other way? They just barely held it together to commit this to tape. I'm just happy someone had the hindsight to actually press this snotty, garage where it belongs; on black, big hole vinyl.
By the way this is (part 2 + 3) of Trash Sandwich, the idea that this could be part of some larger theatrical movement, or conceptual album kills me. It's better it doesn't actually exist, but then I could see them pulling that kind of one drunken night, documenting-the-mundane mess off. It's hard to make out anything other than the nasal brat chorus, the solo is equally skillfully put together and haphazard, when you've been eating nothing but trash sandwiches I can see why free pizza is the most exciting thing.
It's a rare recording that can actually capture this raw, live sounding energy, but then to leave it buried and pure like this is what makes it great. Someone knew exactly what they were doing, the trick is sounding like you don't...like you don't even want to...the tracks exist in spite of themselves out of heart and inspiration. Something isn't lo-fi when it couldn't be recorded any other way....well, when all the fidelity's are available to choose from, irregardless of special equipment. It just exists like this, take it or leave it.
Like Times New Viking, who definitely were playing with the end game of that movement. Going to the absolute breaking point. But Rip it Off wasn't recorded with inferior consumer technology. That's 2" tape with the input levels all the way up and that's just the way the songs now exist. The live recreation is only a reenactment, like those guys at the civil war battles on the weekends. There's no real danger, you're going through the motions. Not to say both of these guys won't kill it live in a different, party explosion experience, but it forever exists in this form for a very specific reason and it doesn't have to.
liquor store is blowing it out because that's the way these songs should sound, as unkempt and wild as the dudes behind them. No image, no pretension, the songs are the document.

So good.

Get it from Almost Ready Records

For some reason if the site seems a little nuts, but you can email AR at almostreadyrecords (at) live.com to get a copy of this.