Thursday, March 28, 2013

On The Spot Trio on Colemine Records


Colemine Record's reach extends well beyond the Ohio scene where they’re based. Anywhere the guitars have a wah pedal on that chain of effects or drummers are getting slightly jazzier than usual, diving into funky grooves, Colemine is probably not far behind. In this case they’ve gone all the way to the West Coast to get a piece of the On The Spot Trio, who is, in fact, three dudes who take the classic guitar and drum duo formula and add keys, which is the absolute minimum required to get the groove started, and the two guys left not banging out the rhythms are jockeying back and forth for melody.

When A-Side’s "Suction" starts I can’t help but immediately like this simple, frantic organ line over a slow, drippy groove. The guitar and organ working with and against each other in jumpy riffs, the electric strumming staccato and the organ is fighting back on the left channel. They help each other in bursts and then wander back off on their own again. This beat, the foundation for those two to do serious soul work, a real conversation going on between the two, this organ and warm electric. They ignore each other for a while and then make up, another fight and then a big finish.
"Critically Acclaimed Shit" on the B-Side has a little more of an attitude (makes sense) and a big handheld slow tambourine. There’s distortion on the guitar here diving low. My fiend Matt used to call Turing machine car chase music and “Critically Acclaimed Shit” is walking-down-the-street-being-a-bad-ass music. The only shame of this on vinyl is that you can’t get a digital download to actually attempt to put on that attitude, walking around town, but that could be dangerous to your health. Even just keeping a tiny little bit of this tough sound with you is more than enough. I also can’t help but think when I hear “Colemine Records” but to think of a huge pit full of record fragments, 45' sticking out of the sides, dirty and busted. Terry is lowering singles archeologists into the pit to work by lamplight pulling these fragments and carefully brushing them off and sending them back up the bucket.

Get this from the Colemine Records facebook page, along with some great shirts....gotta get that hammond pedals one...

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