HR001 — Mental Anguish — Better Pull That Plug
C60 (1982)
C60 (1982)
REVIEW by Jerry Kranitz
Chris Phinney’s first recordings launched both the Harsh Reality label and the long-lived AKA under which Phinney recorded solo. The C60 tape consists of two side long improvisations.
From the beginning of ‘One Man’s Blues’ we hear the sound of the young artist exploring the possibilities. The piece starts off with organ and banging on objects, plus intermittent, undecipherable vocals. Phinney playfully presses the keys, creating little melodies and sustained chords, all the while banging on objects. It’s an interesting combination of simple organ noodling and primitive percussion. About halfway through we hear the brief sounds of what may be a bird chirping? This is followed by a light wave of rushing wind and other sounds that may or may not be vocalizations. After a while Phinney starts in on the
rap-styled vocals that would characterize so many of the songs on the Pungent Odor and Skoptzies tapes. Strumming acoustic guitar drifts in, though it’s quietly light, taking a backseat to the percussion that by now predominates in the mix. But there’s more happening at this point… more layers, with the clanging percussion playing band leader to the guitar, rant vocals, scratching sounds, and organ that is alternately droning and melodic.
‘The Last Nail In Your Coffin’ takes up Side B and starts off with what sounds like samples of some kind. This is a free-wheeling sound experimental piece, with bells, bleating horn, string manipulation that sounds like a violin, whirring buzzsaw (or some such machine sound), bang/clang percussion, and vocals that are at times garbled, guttural, tribal chanting, and ranting. It’s all very interesting and despite the chaos the parts gel quite nicely barely five minutes into the piece. Once again the percussion leads the way and is more varied on this piece. The whirring machine is like an industrial electronic soundscape. Then we hear what must be a drill, followed by what sounds like the musical effect you can get by swaying a hand saw. Nearly halfway through, Phinney gets downright rhythmic as aggressive percussion creates a stumbling rocking groove for him to rant over, though the vocals are always very brief on both these tracks. He’s really creating some interesting rhythmic grooves with his metal bashing. In the last minutes the percussion subsides, which is a bit of a shock given its persistence throughout. But the mood is very light and quiet now, with bells and a gently whirring sound that may be the horn… but then what sounds like an LP spinning at the groove when the music has ended, plus some light harmonica, which brings us in for a soft landing to the tape. Side B is where it’s at on this inaugural HRM release.
Chris Phinney’s first recordings launched both the Harsh Reality label and the long-lived AKA under which Phinney recorded solo. The C60 tape consists of two side long improvisations.
From the beginning of ‘One Man’s Blues’ we hear the sound of the young artist exploring the possibilities. The piece starts off with organ and banging on objects, plus intermittent, undecipherable vocals. Phinney playfully presses the keys, creating little melodies and sustained chords, all the while banging on objects. It’s an interesting combination of simple organ noodling and primitive percussion. About halfway through we hear the brief sounds of what may be a bird chirping? This is followed by a light wave of rushing wind and other sounds that may or may not be vocalizations. After a while Phinney starts in on the
rap-styled vocals that would characterize so many of the songs on the Pungent Odor and Skoptzies tapes. Strumming acoustic guitar drifts in, though it’s quietly light, taking a backseat to the percussion that by now predominates in the mix. But there’s more happening at this point… more layers, with the clanging percussion playing band leader to the guitar, rant vocals, scratching sounds, and organ that is alternately droning and melodic.
‘The Last Nail In Your Coffin’ takes up Side B and starts off with what sounds like samples of some kind. This is a free-wheeling sound experimental piece, with bells, bleating horn, string manipulation that sounds like a violin, whirring buzzsaw (or some such machine sound), bang/clang percussion, and vocals that are at times garbled, guttural, tribal chanting, and ranting. It’s all very interesting and despite the chaos the parts gel quite nicely barely five minutes into the piece. Once again the percussion leads the way and is more varied on this piece. The whirring machine is like an industrial electronic soundscape. Then we hear what must be a drill, followed by what sounds like the musical effect you can get by swaying a hand saw. Nearly halfway through, Phinney gets downright rhythmic as aggressive percussion creates a stumbling rocking groove for him to rant over, though the vocals are always very brief on both these tracks. He’s really creating some interesting rhythmic grooves with his metal bashing. In the last minutes the percussion subsides, which is a bit of a shock given its persistence throughout. But the mood is very light and quiet now, with bells and a gently whirring sound that may be the horn… but then what sounds like an LP spinning at the groove when the music has ended, plus some light harmonica, which brings us in for a soft landing to the tape. Side B is where it’s at on this inaugural HRM release.
Jerry Kranitz interviews Chris Phinney
JK: So I’m looking at the Bandcamp page for Better Pull That Plug and I see organ, acoustic guitar, those are the only actual instruments and rest horns, machines, metal percussion and found sound objects.
CP: The organ was an organ that my dad had. I don’t know where he got it. It was an electronic organ that you plug in. And of course I had an acoustic guitar. A Spanish flamenco. And everything else was basically trash can lids, sheet metal, horseshoes.
JK: So what had you been listening to at the time that influenced what you were doing?
CP: Throbbing Gristle, Nocturnal Emissions’ early stuff, Portion Control, Nurse With Wound. We used to have a guy here, he died of a brain aneurysm, he ran Rare Records and he’d order anything you wanted him to. And there was a place called The Treasury. It was kind of like the WalMart of its day. And there was a guy who worked in the record department who would order anything for you as well. He was into the Industrial stuff so we would get a lot of the Industrial stuff. Normal record stores like Peaches didn’t carry that stuff. All they carried was rock-oriented material.
JK: One of the comments I had about Better Pull That Plug was, “sound of the young artist exploring the possibilities.” So this is you by yourself in your home just messing around based on having heard all this music.
CP: Right. Just trying to make my own stuff and see what would happen.
JK: One of the things I highlighted that seems to develop… I had heard the Skoptzies tapes and Pungent Odor… and I hear on Better Pull That Plug the beginning of that almost rap-styled vocals that developed more on the Skoptzies tapes. And it’s really interesting describing it that way because this was the early 1980s. So when you made this tape did you just send it out for review? What did you do with it?
CP: I sent it out to whoever would review it. And I think the only review I got was from Factsheet Five. Mike Gunderloy.
JK: What did you record Better Pull That Plug with?
CP: It was Dave Catching's* Akai 4-track open reel-to-reel. Open mic.
*(aka Dave Grave, who’s in Eagles Of Death Metal now)
JK: Were you playing around with tape editing?
CP: No, I didn’t do a whole lot of tape editing. It was basically just improv and recording what we had. There would be some backwards tapes, backward tape masking, small amounts. Especially as we got further along. Some of the Skoptzies material where we were trying new band members, and fleshing out tunes and trying to get a band going. It was all pretty just improv really on Better Pull That Plug.
JK: So Better Pull That Plug is mostly real time, you recording as you’re playing it.
CP: That’s right. No overdubs or anything on that particular tape.
JK: It’s a fun tape to listen to, having heard a lot of your music over the years.
CP: Somebody making a bunch of racket, right? (laughs)
JK: Tell me about the cover photo. It looks like black children from the 1800s.
CP: It was out of a book called Anomalies And Curiosities Of Medicine*.
* by George M. Gould and Walter L. Pyle, originally published 1896.
JK: I’m looking at it and it almost looks like a wood cutting. It’s an interesting picture.
CP: It was a real old photograph that was in that book and I decided to use it for the cover. There were a lot of weird photographs in that book. Like guys with their balls swelled up so big they could sit on them. I can’t remember where I got the thing.
JK: So I’m looking at the Bandcamp page for Better Pull That Plug and I see organ, acoustic guitar, those are the only actual instruments and rest horns, machines, metal percussion and found sound objects.
CP: The organ was an organ that my dad had. I don’t know where he got it. It was an electronic organ that you plug in. And of course I had an acoustic guitar. A Spanish flamenco. And everything else was basically trash can lids, sheet metal, horseshoes.
JK: So what had you been listening to at the time that influenced what you were doing?
CP: Throbbing Gristle, Nocturnal Emissions’ early stuff, Portion Control, Nurse With Wound. We used to have a guy here, he died of a brain aneurysm, he ran Rare Records and he’d order anything you wanted him to. And there was a place called The Treasury. It was kind of like the WalMart of its day. And there was a guy who worked in the record department who would order anything for you as well. He was into the Industrial stuff so we would get a lot of the Industrial stuff. Normal record stores like Peaches didn’t carry that stuff. All they carried was rock-oriented material.
JK: One of the comments I had about Better Pull That Plug was, “sound of the young artist exploring the possibilities.” So this is you by yourself in your home just messing around based on having heard all this music.
CP: Right. Just trying to make my own stuff and see what would happen.
JK: One of the things I highlighted that seems to develop… I had heard the Skoptzies tapes and Pungent Odor… and I hear on Better Pull That Plug the beginning of that almost rap-styled vocals that developed more on the Skoptzies tapes. And it’s really interesting describing it that way because this was the early 1980s. So when you made this tape did you just send it out for review? What did you do with it?
CP: I sent it out to whoever would review it. And I think the only review I got was from Factsheet Five. Mike Gunderloy.
JK: What did you record Better Pull That Plug with?
CP: It was Dave Catching's* Akai 4-track open reel-to-reel. Open mic.
*(aka Dave Grave, who’s in Eagles Of Death Metal now)
JK: Were you playing around with tape editing?
CP: No, I didn’t do a whole lot of tape editing. It was basically just improv and recording what we had. There would be some backwards tapes, backward tape masking, small amounts. Especially as we got further along. Some of the Skoptzies material where we were trying new band members, and fleshing out tunes and trying to get a band going. It was all pretty just improv really on Better Pull That Plug.
JK: So Better Pull That Plug is mostly real time, you recording as you’re playing it.
CP: That’s right. No overdubs or anything on that particular tape.
JK: It’s a fun tape to listen to, having heard a lot of your music over the years.
CP: Somebody making a bunch of racket, right? (laughs)
JK: Tell me about the cover photo. It looks like black children from the 1800s.
CP: It was out of a book called Anomalies And Curiosities Of Medicine*.
* by George M. Gould and Walter L. Pyle, originally published 1896.
JK: I’m looking at it and it almost looks like a wood cutting. It’s an interesting picture.
CP: It was a real old photograph that was in that book and I decided to use it for the cover. There were a lot of weird photographs in that book. Like guys with their balls swelled up so big they could sit on them. I can’t remember where I got the thing.
Page 856 of Chris Phinney's copy of Anomalies And Curiosities Of Medicine, Julian Press, 1956
Editor's Notes:
— The children pictured in the book suffered from Vitiligo (called leukoderma in the book).
— I asked Chris Phinney the origin and meaning of the title "Better Pull That Plug" and he replied:
"the title 'Better Pull That Plug' was titled that as you needed to pull the plug on me lol".
— The children pictured in the book suffered from Vitiligo (called leukoderma in the book).
— I asked Chris Phinney the origin and meaning of the title "Better Pull That Plug" and he replied:
"the title 'Better Pull That Plug' was titled that as you needed to pull the plug on me lol".
