Shudder To Think
Get Your Goat
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NATN Recommended
Shudder To Think
Get Your Goat
Dischord, 1992
RiYL: Fugazi, Gang Of Four, Sunny Day Real Estate, Smashing Pumpkins, Dismemberment Plan |
Get Your Goat is a truly original record from a truly original band, and has to rank near the pinnacle of indie-rock creativity in the '90s. On paper and often on record, the individual pieces of Shudder's sound co-existed about as well as a straight-edger and a pothead. But somehow, it all comes together in a bizarre moment of clarity here: dissonant and atonal hardcore, major-key breakdowns, flashes of prog-rock flamboyance and German art-house songs. Even frontman Craig Wedren's operatic falsetto seems to actually work in the band's favor.
"Pebbles" serves it all up in a microcosm, a mini-epic whose distinct sections jump off the record with eye-opening originality. Wedren and Chris Matthews' machine-gun riffing blends into dreamy minor-chords and gorgeous progressions bulldozed by the rhythm section's stomp-and-strut. Wedren's lyrics make little or no logical sense: "poor little girl screaming traffic in her hair" and "Candles swim low in the basement of one man's one-man home" are two particularly intriguing passages. One of the strangest pop songs ever written, and one of the most memorable.
Wedren goes for the dramatic vocal with even more regularity than on Shudder's previous records, and his melodies contrast heavily (and so effectively) with what the band is actually playing. On "Rain-Covered Cat," his pretty vocal hook dictates the song's major-key chug, but then the band soon leaves him behind with demented metal riffing. Wedren does all the work on the verses of "Shake Your Halo Down," but finds common ground with the music during its crystalline chorus. As if to make sure the balance remains fucked up, the band then closes out the song with a white-noise freakout.
Other standouts on the album include the urgent "White Page," which grinds bright chords right up against discordant squalls, and the confounding "Baby Drop," which pitches its tempo out the window during a nutty, Wedren-led breakdown. One wonders how much more powerful Get Your Goat would sound if not for its criminal underproduction -- bassist Stuart Hill is the greatest casualty, his ingenious playing blighted by both poor tone and a poor mix.
Get Your Goat was released during the early success of grunge, and although the album has absolutely no hints of familiarity with Seattle's finest, there are moments here and there that probably provided inspiration to a number of bands (Sunny Day Real Estate, Smashing Pumpkins, Pearl Jam -- the latter two with whom the band frequently toured). About how often on an indie-rock album do you hear a guitar solo like the one at the end of "The Hair Pillow?"
Get Your Goat has very lofty ambitions and will probably scare off timid listeners, but almost never submits to a bad idea. Likewise, both Wedren's unconventional singing and his random lyrics are a bit much. But there's so much amazing music on this record that the minor flaws are not a problem. A joy to contemplate and revel in.
JONATHAN COHEN | Jonathan Cohen co-created Nude As The News with his Indiana University mates Troy Carpenter and Ben French. When not traversing the globe for business and pleasure, he holds down the fort as a senior editor for Billboard in New York. Stop him and he just may ask, "what for lunch?"