Escape-Ism - Introduction To Escape-Ism (Merge, 2017)

Escape-Ism
Introduction To Escape-Ism
Merge
2017

Rating: 7 Downtown Julie Browns out of 10

Having seen Ian Svenonious perform many, many times, and specifically having seen Escape-Ism at Hopscotch last September, it’s extremely tough to separate my feelings on this record from how much I love watching that man play live.  Ah, who the fuck am I kidding - this is my stupid blog it’s not like I’ve ever “separated my feelings” on any other goddamn thing I've written here.  Ian more or less dominates any and every group he participates in, but in this case the band consists of only him.  Nation of Ulysses had their punk vibe, the Make-Up had more of a soul sound, Chain & the Gang/Weird War have a primitive call & response thing going on…but truthfully they’re all delivery systems for Ian’s peculiar and delightful vocals and affectations.  For this solo effort, he employees sparse guitar, synth, and a drum machine – it oddly sounds like dirty garage rock and Kraftwerk had a baby, and I’m into it.  The music is quite simple, which is fine – necessary even…when I saw him perform these songs live, it was abundantly clear he has no idea how to play a guitar, so god knows how long it took him to record even the simple lines in these songs.  You’re here to listen to Ian anyways, and in typical Ian fashion all of the songs are about bringing down the man, ending capitalism, etc. – honestly, at this point if it was anything different you’d hope the man got checked for a brain tumor.

Your love of “Introduction To Escape-Ism” will be entirely dependent on your love of Ian, but then again that’s the case with anything this nut records.  And I love him.

Chain & the Gang - In Cool Blood (K, 2012)

Chain & the Gang

In Cool Blood

K

2012

Rating: 7 early risers out of 10

There's nothing really different or noteworthy about this third release from Chain & the Gang, and that is as it should be.  Ian Svenonious has honed his "garage soul" sound down to a science, and it is not to be trifled with.  Did I make up the phrase "garage soul"?  Doubtful, surely someone has used the phrase in a Dirtbombs review at some point.  If there is anything different to say about this at all, it's the addition of Katie Alice Greer as the female yang to Svenonious' yin, and she's not just singing back-up - she leads a few songs.  I prefer the Ian led songs, but tracks like "Nuff Said" where they play off of each other work great. 

Listen, if you're a fan of what Svenonious does, you're gonna like this.  If you're not, you won't.  And if you have no idea who the dude is, go out and get "13-Point Program to Destroy America" or "Plays Pretty for Baby" by Nation of Ulysses and realize why the man has so many idols like myself in the world.