HR089 - Viktimized Karcass - The End Of Buggsy - C60 — 1988
Side A:
Can't Seem To Find My Way All After Me Scratching All The Time |
Side B:
I Shall Return The Heat Is Gone (Long Version Remix) Need A Fix |
REVIEW by Jerry Kranitz
The End Of Buggsy features the usual Viktimized Karcass quartet suspects of Richard Martin vocals (and synths on the first track), Robert Henson on bass and FX, Roger Moneymaker on guitar and FX, and Chris Phinney on synths, drum programming, sequencer, and live percussion.
Side A kicks off with ‘Can't Seem To Find My Way’, which begins with a chunky, plodding, martial groove. It’s lo-fi, with a dirty, noisy, lightly Bluesy vibe, and is nicely offset by and colored by pleasantly shimmering, cavernous effects and howling atmospherics. Karcass can always be counted on for strange contrasts that work well together, as the Blues rock guitar jamming develops against the menagerie of spaced out trippiness. ‘All After Me’ is next and takes the vibe down LOW, launching a drifting drone that’s like slowly oozing sludge, hypnotically whining guitar lines, and narcotized vocals, all coming together to create a slow-motion alien dreamscape. For pure atmosphere this is one of the best Karcass tracks I’ve heard yet. ‘Scratching All The Time’ picks up the pace again, the rhythm at first feeling like a Ska kind of groove, but soon develops into something like Can at their most rhythmic, Damo vocals and all! A short but tightly knit rocker.
Side B starts with ‘I Shall Return’, a rocker propelled by steady guitar riffage and solos, drums, effects, and disembodied vocals that sound like a Goth meets Chrome blend. ‘The Heat Is Gone (Long Version Remix)’ is a 10+ minute version of the shorter song that appears on the 1989 Turn Of The Grindstone LP compilation. It’s a slow but steady rocker with Richard’s ghost-punk vocals, Roger’s tastefully melodic guitar, a steadily skittish electronic beat, and various howling, spacey, and feedback effects. And as it progresses there are parts where Roger is exploring, playing lusciously melodic and intricate solos, bringing to mind a kind of lo-fi space rock Dire Straights. Wrapping up the set is ‘Need A Fix’, with its steady rock beat, noisily angular guitar, UFO hurtling through space effects, and vocals. Parts sound like hip-shaking dancefloor, space-metal. Another example of Karcass’s flair for nutty but creatively cool contrast tunes.
The End Of Buggsy features the usual Viktimized Karcass quartet suspects of Richard Martin vocals (and synths on the first track), Robert Henson on bass and FX, Roger Moneymaker on guitar and FX, and Chris Phinney on synths, drum programming, sequencer, and live percussion.
Side A kicks off with ‘Can't Seem To Find My Way’, which begins with a chunky, plodding, martial groove. It’s lo-fi, with a dirty, noisy, lightly Bluesy vibe, and is nicely offset by and colored by pleasantly shimmering, cavernous effects and howling atmospherics. Karcass can always be counted on for strange contrasts that work well together, as the Blues rock guitar jamming develops against the menagerie of spaced out trippiness. ‘All After Me’ is next and takes the vibe down LOW, launching a drifting drone that’s like slowly oozing sludge, hypnotically whining guitar lines, and narcotized vocals, all coming together to create a slow-motion alien dreamscape. For pure atmosphere this is one of the best Karcass tracks I’ve heard yet. ‘Scratching All The Time’ picks up the pace again, the rhythm at first feeling like a Ska kind of groove, but soon develops into something like Can at their most rhythmic, Damo vocals and all! A short but tightly knit rocker.
Side B starts with ‘I Shall Return’, a rocker propelled by steady guitar riffage and solos, drums, effects, and disembodied vocals that sound like a Goth meets Chrome blend. ‘The Heat Is Gone (Long Version Remix)’ is a 10+ minute version of the shorter song that appears on the 1989 Turn Of The Grindstone LP compilation. It’s a slow but steady rocker with Richard’s ghost-punk vocals, Roger’s tastefully melodic guitar, a steadily skittish electronic beat, and various howling, spacey, and feedback effects. And as it progresses there are parts where Roger is exploring, playing lusciously melodic and intricate solos, bringing to mind a kind of lo-fi space rock Dire Straights. Wrapping up the set is ‘Need A Fix’, with its steady rock beat, noisily angular guitar, UFO hurtling through space effects, and vocals. Parts sound like hip-shaking dancefloor, space-metal. Another example of Karcass’s flair for nutty but creatively cool contrast tunes.
INTERVIEW with Chris Phinney by Jerry Kranitz
Jerry Kranitz (JK): I’ve got a couple questions about the credits. It says Roger and Chris both did the final mix. Does that mean you both just hung together to mix it down?
Chris Phinney (CP): Yeah, basically.
JK: One of your credits is live percussion. Does that mean an actual drum kit? Or just bangin’ on shit?
CP: Probably bongos and manual percussion using the drum machine.
JK: Who or what is Buggsy?
CP: Buggsy was a criminal.
JK: Oh, ok, that’s the dead mobster on the tape cover.
CP: Yeah. And I think it’s spelled wrong too. It should be Bugsy, with one ‘G’. But tough shit, y’know? (Laughs).
JK: The credit lists Richard on synths on the first track, ‘Can't Seem To Find My Way’. Did you also play synths on that track? I ask because as it progresses, one of the effects started reminding me of the style you’ve developed in recent years. That shimmering glacial feel that’s characterized so much of your recent work.
CP: Yeah, I played synths on the first track too. That’s a noisy ass track.
JK: It is. I like it. Noisy, bluesy, lots going on. I love the blues guitar jamming against the spaced out trippiness.
CP: When we get to the Cruelty Viktimized Karcass tape (HR113), there’s nothing but noise on the whole tape. We did a whole tape of nothing but noise.
JK: Another one I like a lot is ‘Scratching All The Time’. At the beginning is has a Ska kind of groove. But then it develops into something that, to my ears, reminds me of Can.
CP: Cool.
JK: ‘The Heat Is Gone (Long Version Remix)’. Is that just a longer version of the same recording that was on the Turn Of The Grindstone compilation LP?
CP: I mixed down the same recording to be a shorter version for the LP. I screwed up calling the title ‘(Long Version Remix)’. It’s not a remix but the original longer version.
JK: And you just trimmed it down for the LP.
CP: Right. It’s a shorter mix for the LP. We were limited on how much time we had.
JK: Just out of curiosity, when you did those Grindstone compilations did all contributors pay the costs equally?
CP: Yes, everybody paid their share. Ears To The Grindstone sold out fast. Back To The Grindstone, I still have some. They sold well. Turn Of The Grindstone did not sell so well for some reason. I don’t know why. I still got a bunch of those. Then the Endless Grindstone CD came out with Cancerous Growth on it, and it sold out in like two months. And then then DVD documentary came out, which was the final. It came out followed by a book.
JK: The DVD was the documentary that Andrew (Szava-Kovats) did later (2009).
CP: Right. The book is cool.
JK: This is the first Karcass tape we’ve had in a while. I’m listening to the guitar and, to me, one of the things that makes Karcass unique is Roger would fit in perfectly with a straightforward rock band. But here he is in this experimental space rock/punk situation.
CP: Wait till we get to Trial Of Murder (HR091), there’s some badass guitar on that tape.
JK: On ‘The Heat Is Gone’, maybe a seemingly odd analogy, but some of the soloing sounds like a space rock Mark Knopfler (Dire Straights).
CP: Yeah, I saw that.
JK: I thought ‘Need A Fix’ was a good wrap up to the set. It’s got a nice steady rock beat, and noisy, angular guitar, and crazy space effects and vocals. And it’s got both dancey and space metal elements. Great crazy contrasts.
CP: That’s a good one. ‘All After Me’ is on there.
JK: That’s the one I said after the opening ‘Can't Seem To Find My Way’ it takes thing down way low.
CP: It goes down REAL low. (Laughs)
JK: It’s like sludge! I love the combination of drone, guitar, and vocals. I said in the review that for pure atmosphere it’s one of my favorite Karcass tracks yet.
CP: And I had to program all the drums on there. We fired all our drummers. We didn’t have drummers anymore.
JK: So it was all just programmed drums and whatever you happened to be banging on for particular tracks. Did you ever use an actual drum kit?
CP: I had one when I was a young kid. I took drum lessons. But I never used it on Karcass tapes.
Jerry Kranitz (JK): I’ve got a couple questions about the credits. It says Roger and Chris both did the final mix. Does that mean you both just hung together to mix it down?
Chris Phinney (CP): Yeah, basically.
JK: One of your credits is live percussion. Does that mean an actual drum kit? Or just bangin’ on shit?
CP: Probably bongos and manual percussion using the drum machine.
JK: Who or what is Buggsy?
CP: Buggsy was a criminal.
JK: Oh, ok, that’s the dead mobster on the tape cover.
CP: Yeah. And I think it’s spelled wrong too. It should be Bugsy, with one ‘G’. But tough shit, y’know? (Laughs).
JK: The credit lists Richard on synths on the first track, ‘Can't Seem To Find My Way’. Did you also play synths on that track? I ask because as it progresses, one of the effects started reminding me of the style you’ve developed in recent years. That shimmering glacial feel that’s characterized so much of your recent work.
CP: Yeah, I played synths on the first track too. That’s a noisy ass track.
JK: It is. I like it. Noisy, bluesy, lots going on. I love the blues guitar jamming against the spaced out trippiness.
CP: When we get to the Cruelty Viktimized Karcass tape (HR113), there’s nothing but noise on the whole tape. We did a whole tape of nothing but noise.
JK: Another one I like a lot is ‘Scratching All The Time’. At the beginning is has a Ska kind of groove. But then it develops into something that, to my ears, reminds me of Can.
CP: Cool.
JK: ‘The Heat Is Gone (Long Version Remix)’. Is that just a longer version of the same recording that was on the Turn Of The Grindstone compilation LP?
CP: I mixed down the same recording to be a shorter version for the LP. I screwed up calling the title ‘(Long Version Remix)’. It’s not a remix but the original longer version.
JK: And you just trimmed it down for the LP.
CP: Right. It’s a shorter mix for the LP. We were limited on how much time we had.
JK: Just out of curiosity, when you did those Grindstone compilations did all contributors pay the costs equally?
CP: Yes, everybody paid their share. Ears To The Grindstone sold out fast. Back To The Grindstone, I still have some. They sold well. Turn Of The Grindstone did not sell so well for some reason. I don’t know why. I still got a bunch of those. Then the Endless Grindstone CD came out with Cancerous Growth on it, and it sold out in like two months. And then then DVD documentary came out, which was the final. It came out followed by a book.
JK: The DVD was the documentary that Andrew (Szava-Kovats) did later (2009).
CP: Right. The book is cool.
JK: This is the first Karcass tape we’ve had in a while. I’m listening to the guitar and, to me, one of the things that makes Karcass unique is Roger would fit in perfectly with a straightforward rock band. But here he is in this experimental space rock/punk situation.
CP: Wait till we get to Trial Of Murder (HR091), there’s some badass guitar on that tape.
JK: On ‘The Heat Is Gone’, maybe a seemingly odd analogy, but some of the soloing sounds like a space rock Mark Knopfler (Dire Straights).
CP: Yeah, I saw that.
JK: I thought ‘Need A Fix’ was a good wrap up to the set. It’s got a nice steady rock beat, and noisy, angular guitar, and crazy space effects and vocals. And it’s got both dancey and space metal elements. Great crazy contrasts.
CP: That’s a good one. ‘All After Me’ is on there.
JK: That’s the one I said after the opening ‘Can't Seem To Find My Way’ it takes thing down way low.
CP: It goes down REAL low. (Laughs)
JK: It’s like sludge! I love the combination of drone, guitar, and vocals. I said in the review that for pure atmosphere it’s one of my favorite Karcass tracks yet.
CP: And I had to program all the drums on there. We fired all our drummers. We didn’t have drummers anymore.
JK: So it was all just programmed drums and whatever you happened to be banging on for particular tracks. Did you ever use an actual drum kit?
CP: I had one when I was a young kid. I took drum lessons. But I never used it on Karcass tapes.