I knew nothing about ESG before starting to write this blog post, but my quick research made it clear that they really should have been on my radar for at least the past twenty years, if not thirty. Their releases in the '80s, and then after their reformation in the early '90s, impressed a lot of people, from college DJs to the hip hop artists and indie rockers who sampled them - inspiring the incisively titled EP Sample Credits Don't Pay Our Bills.
I don't know what the band's members worked on between their sporadic tours and releases, but last year they released what they've referred to as their final album, Closure, and in 2012 they ran a successful Kickstarter campaign to produce a documentary about their story. Here's hoping it sheds more light on the band than their Wikipedia page. (For perhaps the first time in my life I have scooped Wikipedia, as Closure isn't listed as an album in their discography. Any editors out there wanna get on that?)OK, now I'm going to go listen to this album and any other ESG music I can get my hands on. I recommend you do the same.
"This is spare, rhythmic and rough. Three qualities which should make any record worthy of mass-airplay - don't fail here. Warm enough for the coldest winter. Play lots!" "Vocals sound sort of like Clare Grogan from Altered Image. Nice stuff." "This is stupid." "Jesus Marsh! No chorus verse chorus, jangly pop [illegible] or quirky Anglo [illegible] and you render-" [Perhaps this thought continued on another sticker that has since disappeared, but I think we get the general idea.] "OK - maybe it's not so dull - it does kinda grow on you." "Yes! Hot." "Hot stuff! We need more ESG though." "Boring beat music. I'd much prefer chorus-verse-solo-chorus. Gimme a break." "Oh come on now..." "These young [women symbol] have put in an admirral effort. I turn to this often." "Do you realize that all of them were under the age of 19 when this came out?" |
Honestly, I don't have much to contribute to the Firehose discussion that you don't already know or couldn't figure out by visiting their Wikipedia page, which is one of the most anecdotal I've ever seen; it pretty much just reads like a barroom conversation with a dude who's super into Firehose. I…
Yes, I've covered Sonic Youth a few times here on Review Revue. But come on, is there any band that better exemplifies the joyful noise of college radio and the rise of "alternative" culture? Of course I discovered them myself by listening to college radio, and I'm sure many more did as well - espe…
