Motormouth Mabel on Tick Tock Records

Motormouth Mabel is a four piece out of Charleston, NC who don't get a chance to get together much these days but when they do they're known for some pretty epic live shows and recording singles with Charlie McAlister in an evening.

A-Side "Permanent Vacation" has the great sound of a tape winding up to speed and the feedback from four guys just getting ready to scuzz rock out together in the same damn room. It says Charlie recorded this onto 8 track and 1/4" tape and definitely used some of his own cruddy techniques to make capturing this the number one concern. Whatever they're doing it's coming on thick with the crunchy static and attitude of Buck Biloxi or Life Stinks in the basement under the basement. The vocals from CJ are bouncing off the walls but not peaking out, just right on the edge of those levels. They really get into the chaos with a wall of solo's that transitions into a slow drone with some introspective lyrics. Don't discount this as a drunken night, even if they did write that on the back of the grocery bag. Real dirty punk that's been at this for years and isn't losing it anytime soon.

"Stop and Chats" counts in on a messed up amp sound but this one has more of a rock jangle and CJ is way up there in a high register with manic vibrato. The chords chug away sounding like a those post punks The Embarrassment on this one. CJ makes it all about the vocal melody here while the band works through the three chords, completely different feel from that rough A-Side, thin sounding and clean but with that energy from attacking this as one unit. The track ends with some behind the scenes chatting and feels like listening back to rehearsal tapes and makes me want to get the band back together.

On yellow baby poo vinyl (I know), screen printed on the back of a piggly wiggly grocery bag with a "PROK" sticker....all scuzzy and awesome. Not much info about where to pick this up, contact the guys on their facebook maybe?

Also just found this screencap from The Walking Dead:

That's a shirt from these guys. Whoa.