Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Trucker Tits on Zoo and a Movie Records


I love the ambition of a conceptual seven inch like this one from Zoo and a Movie Records. The planning that goes into six different bands tracks with an illustrated short story is beyond the usual xerox sleeve of a couple of songs recorded in an afternoon. The number of people involved, all coming together with this trucker with tits is a feat itself. Coming up with that concept was another one entirely.

A-Side's "Devils and Dark Things" from Band of Carnies is a somber narrative track you just walked in on. A stool at the end of the black stage is lit by a single light with multiple male vocals barely sung over a slow style acoustic singing about 'red eyes in the dark' a real eerie number that belongs on a swamp porch the quivering echo of guitars building to a wailing shriek from miles away. That kind of haunted country sound that fits the story completely. I'll the city with all it's obvious problems than the creepy rednecks in the woods trailers any day. This track is the pleasant side of the situation from the story as ominous as it is. They're already taking this whole thing incredibly seriously and the tracks are working as further backstories and context for the tale of TT. Next up the "Story of trucker Tits" from Eyeball is a great waltz country track from a live room, just a mic on the chair in the center of this performance. Reverse sounding electric laid over the top of this far off in the background, giving the folk sound that homemade indie sound. Great lyrics for this ridiculous subject actually making him into a sympathetic almost real character. A tortured tale of caution and of conquering gender bias. Seriously. The last track is from husband and wife duo Lucky Eyes which is producer Paul and Amber Oldham. A minimal track, "Moan" of static smeared drum machine and muted single note guitar the both of their voices creating the depth of the melody. Single strums of chords pierce the silence occasionally and the two of them are standing close to the mic in a dark room eyes closed, baffling around them getting every sharp breath in contrast to that lack of instrumentation, a really beautiful track that so far seems out of place in this Deliverance nightmare.
the B-Side opens on "Evil Me" from The Rat Bastards a spooky alt-country track with creaky metallic electric guitars and deceptively sweet harmonies chanted about realizing how the narrator is completely evil in that story song way with a 'la la la' chorus. No big deal, no doctors can really help, the evil is running through my veins la la la. Not even the pause for morning and a subtle strum is going to change anything. Sick. "Black Mountain Man" from The Windago gets more appropriately darker, belching grey chords ringing out in sustained quakes, overdriving the frequencies captured by the mic, blowing out over the peak of this. Layered vocals over a folk acoustic and a dreaded electric groaning away under this gravelly layer of voices. Apocalyptic. King Kong finished the single with "Trucker Tits" using an old casio, glitchy ancient break beats and effects, the vocals monotone and panned across channels they basically sum up the entire short story in about a minute and a half including a chorus of Trucker Tits that would make Owen Ashworth blush.
Pretty weird collection of bands, genres and story actually. Could only happen on a seven inch.

No idea where to get this, the facebook page for the label and the site itself have been deleted. A lot like Trucker Tits himself, disappeared without a trace.

1 comment:

  1. I was tickled to have Jeff ask me to work on this project. I loved the story and feel of it. If anyone else would like some album work let me know. Mrjeremygrizzle.com

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