Blonder Tongue Audio Baton
| Blonder Tongue Audio Baton | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
||||
| Studio album by Swirlies | ||||
| Released | March 26, 1993 | |||
| Recorded | June 1992 to Nov. 1992 | |||
| Genre | Indie rock, Alternative rock, Shoegaze | |||
| Label | Taang! | |||
| Swirlies chronology | ||||
|
||||
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   link |
| Tiny Mix Tapes |  link |
Blonder Tongue Audio Baton (sometimes spelled Blondertongueaudiobaton) is a 1993 album by Swirlies, released on CD, LP and cassette. The majority of the album was recorded in the summer of 1992 at Q-Division, Boston with engineer/co-producer Rich Costey. It is possibly their best-known and most critically praised work, with many critics citing it as a "lo-fi" answer to My Bloody Valentine's Loveless. Allmusic calls it "a mainstay of early-'90s indie music."
Some tracks from it appeared, in altered form, on the band's 1994 Brokedick Car EP.
The album is named after an obscure and expensive audio graphic equalizer, made from 1959-61 which was used extensively while tracking the album. It was co-lead singer Seana Carmody's last full album with the group, before she formed the Farfisa-driven and somewhat more pop-oriented Syrup USA.
In addition to the standard track listing, two session out-takes exist and are in unofficial circulation. The first is an unfinished rerecording of "Park the Car by the Side of the Road" and the second is the original studio recording of "Trudy" (a four track version also exists). The version of "Park the Car by the Side of the Road" that appears on the record is not actually from the BTAB sessions. Rather, it is a remix (with some re-recorded vocals) of a track released as part of the "Error" single in 1991. A later 8-track version of Trudy was eventually released as part of the Simple Machines Working Holiday 7" series. Neither out-take has seen official release.
Contents |
[edit] Track listing
All tracks by Swirlies
- "Bell (Intro)" – 0:12
- "Bell" – 4:29
- "Vigilant Always" – 5:10
- "His Love Just Washed Away" – 5:24
- "His Life of Academic Freedom" – 2:07
- "Pancake" – 3:15
- "Jeremy Parker" – 4:14
- "Park the Car by the Side of the Road" – 5:04
- "Tree Chopped Down" – 3:12
- "Wrong Tube" – 5:06
- "Wait Forever" – 4:18
[edit] Personnel
- Ron Rege – Masking tape pull recordist on intro.
- Andy Bernick – Bass, Radio
- Seana Carmody – Guitar, Vocals, Minimoog, Mellotron (actually a Chamberlin to be precise)
- Ben Drucker – Drums (7, 8, 9)
- Kevin March – Drums (?)
- Mark Rivers – Drums (?)
- Damon Tuntunjian – Guitar, Vocals, Minimoog, Mellotron (actually a Chamberlin to be precise)
- Torr - Moth talk
- Dan - Moth talk recordist
- Sentridoh - Moth talk ambient music (oops...)
[edit] Other credits
- Swirlies – Producer, Mixing, Engineer
- Rich Costey – Engineer, Mixing, Co-Producer
- Kerri Bennet – Artwork, Art Direction, Design
- Ron Rege – Art Direction, Design
