PLAYhahd
Volume 3: Swallow Our Bliss (PLAYhahd)
by Austin Nash
Who hasn’t sat for hours creating what would later be proclaimed the “honey pussy” of compilation tapes in anxious anticipation of a road trip to some hockey arena with a trunk full of beer to see KISS without the makeup? Compilations rebel against my better senses with a sentimental partiality because they are a personal article. I made it. Maybe this is why I have difficulty transcending the thought process behind someone else’s compilation.
Swallow Our Bliss is just such an engendering. The players are Genderfits, the Bruisers, the Hellions, Amanda’s Dirty Secret, Greed Seed, and, ah hell, if you want to know more try butch@bluefin.net. They’re almost all rednecks from NH who sound like the guy from Honeymoon Suite. My favorite tracks (don’t say it) are from Local Color (guys from Living Colour who lost their jobs) doing a low-key rap tune called “Mental State;” Fly Spinach Fly doing “Karate,” just hangin’ ’round havin’ a few brews and kickin a little ass; and Zero asking me “What the Fuck Have You Done?” All rap tunes. There’s something sexy about the mood they author.
I like the Swallow Our Bliss disc but find the “impersonal compilation” disjointed. I feel like I’m listening to an advertisement. On the good side, if I hate a band, they aren’t on for long. Of course if I like a band, as when Heavens To Murgatroid are doing “Steve McQueen (blow up doll)”*, it’s over too fast. I guess life is full of compromises and various other bland blends.
* “blow up doll” is not part of the practical title but a section of the refrain, and adds invaluable interest for the reader. Who the hell cares about Steve McQueen anyway? Even if he was good with the babes. I’ll kick Steve’s ass if I EVER, EVER catch him messing around with my muscle magazines again. Finis.
