Saturday, March 19, 2011

Step back: Singing along to Shriekback

In the eerie half light of a chilly dawn. That's the perfect time to listen to some SHRIEKBACK!
I am puttering about, having woken up ridiculously early on a day off to listen to some AUSTRALIAN RUGBY LEAGUE (good on ya, WESTS TIGERS, for beating NEW ZEALAND, 20-12, for a first victory of the season).

It seemed like a good time to listen to my Shriekback playlist, which consists of the band's "TENCH" EP, the 12-inch version of the single, "MY SPINE (IS THE BASSLINE)" and the 1985 album, "OIL & GOLD."

I played the cassette version of the latter repeatedly during my college days. The song "NEMESIS" still triggers a warbly singalong which is best done alone -- trust me.

"We feel like Greeks, we feel like Romans. Centaurs and monkeys just cluster round us. We drink elixirs that we refine from the juices of the dying. We are no monsters, we're moral people. And yet we have the strength to do this. This is the splendour of our achievement. Call in the airstrike with a poison kiss."

See what I mean?

I just sang along at the top of my lungs. Good thing JILL AND THE GIRLS are in Peosta this morning.

"Priests and cannibals, prehistoric animals. Everybody happy as the dead come home. Big black nemesis, parthenogenesis. No one move a muscle as the dead come home."