Nightwalker: In Shop We Build Electric Chairs: Professional Music by Nightwalker

Nightwalker: In Shop We Build Electric Chairs: Professional Music by Nightwalker

1999 

Fading Captain Series/Luna Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Drum Solo  2.The Fink Swan (Swims Away)  3. Kenneth Ray  4. Dogwood Grains  5. Amazed  6. Signifying UFO  7. Ceramic Cock Einstein  8. U235  9. Weird Rivers & Sapphire Sun  10. Trashed Canned Goods  11. Those Little Bastards Will Bite


Sorry, about the lack of posts recently. I got really sick and have just been Hibernol-ing it. I'm finally feeling human again and so I'm going to celebrate my wellness by treating myself to a half hour of caustic noise...

" In Shop We Build Electric Chairs: Professional Music by Nightwalker" is Fading Captain #3. I actually don't own a copy of Fading Captain #2, which was the Lexo and the Leapers EP. If I track down a copy of that, I'll go back and do a post on it. Remember, I said I had a lot of Robert Pollard, but not all of it. Cos bills and groceries and shit...

Alright. You get home from a long day at work...You stopped by the local record shop on the way home and picked up the latest Robert Pollard album.  You fix up a martini, throw the album on the hifi, loosen your tie, stare at the album cover and read, "Track 1, 'Drum Solo.' Ah, this ought to be good..." 

You prepare yourself for some sweet Ginger Baker cannonades but wait! This isn't eight-armed Keith Moon flailing! This isn't even a Peter Criss Side-3-of-Alive level drum solo. It's just some dude ineptly banging away at a drum kit. Like when your drummer steps away from the stool for a minute and the guitarist swoops in and has a go at it. Loping, stumbly and unsteady. And that's pretty much the world of Nightwaker...

Y'see, this is one of those late night noise jams that are a hell of a lot of fun to participate in but probably not as much fun to listen to. If you've ever listened to any of those Guided by Voices "Suitcase" releases you'll be familiar with the style immediately. The dank, bleary, tuneless, incoherent fucking around where you have to ask yourself, "Why did he see fit to release this?" Well, this is a whole album of those...

I can see why some people were pissed off at this release. I can imagine if I bought it when it came out and paid $15.00 for it, not knowing what I was getting into, I would been pissed off too. Luckily, I bought it off the Rockathon website for $5.00 years later, knowing full-well what its reputation was. I'd say there's about $5.00 worth of entertainment here...I actually sorta enjoy this type of thing but I can easily imagine how something like the squalling feedback and irregular, sporadic drumming of "Ceramic Cock Einstein" might put someone off...I tend to focus on the positive things, so here are they are:

The Pros: 

1. The vocal melody of "The Fink Swan (Swims Away)" actually gets stuck in my head from time to time. Which I suppose is good, cos the song is really nothing but a (very loud) vocal melody. 

2. "Dogwood Grains" is a much needed oasis in the middle of the junkyard. Just a lovely, little acoustic ditty, where the "living in an airport" theme (which would later be explored on later records) first pops up. Probably the most enjoyable song on the disc. 

3. "Ceramic Cock Einstein" is nothing but a bunch of aimless fucking around until a song-ish type thing eventually emerges from the muck. And that song-ish type thing just happens to be the noisy snippet that opens "Paper Girl" from the "Self Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia" album! Awesome! 

4. This album ends with the 11-minute epic "Those Little Bastards Will Bite"  which is (surprise! surprise!) more aimless, feed-backing, fucking around until suddenly 7 minutes in, you realize you're witnessing the live birth of "Postal Blowfish." 

And there you have it. There are the 4 good things about "In Shop We Build Electric Chairs." No, wait, the cover is cool. That makes 5 good things...







 I'd recommend this only to the hardest of harcore Pollard fanatics. In fact, while I was listening to this, my wife (who is a GBV fan, but not as rabid about the whole thing as I tend to be) made a disgusted face at the ear-splitting feedback and muttered, "This is horrible..."  But if you're fascinated by grimy, audio weirdness this might hold your interest. I find I bust it out once a month or so, when I'm feeling particularly antisocial and un-song-like...

Alright. Let's listen to some music. I'll go easy on you. Here's "Dogwood Grains." Acoustic guitars. Gentle singing. No screaming feedback and random drum hits...

Here are the updated rankings. This one was a no-brainer. "In Shop We Build Electric Chairs" goes straight to the bottom-ass bottom and there's a fair chance it's staying there. "Devil Between My Toes" has much more to recommend than this album. As a look back at this list, I can't shake the feeling that I have "Kid Marine" ranked too low. I dunno. What do you guys think? 

1. Guided by Voices: Alien Lanes

2. Guided by Voices: Bee Thousand

3.Guided by Voices: Under the Bushes, Under the Stars

4. Guided by Voices: Propeller

5. Robert Pollard: Waved Out

6. Tobin Sprout: Carnival Boy

7. Guided by Voices: Do the Collapse

8. Guided by Voices: Same Place the Fly Got Smashed

9. Robert Pollard: Kid Marine

10. Guided by Voices: Tonics and Twisted Chasers

11. Guided by Voices: Sunfish Holy Breakfast

12. Robert Pollard: Not In My Airforce

13. Guided by Voices: Mag Earwhig!

14. Guided by Voices: King Shit and the Golden Boys

15. Guided by Voices: Self-Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia

16. Guided by Voices: Vampire on Titus

17. Guided by Voices: Sandbox

18. Guided by Voices: Forever Since Breakfast

19. Guided by Voices: Devil Between My Toes 
20. Nightwalker: In Shop We Build Electric Chairs: Professional Music by Nightwalker