Customer Reviews

Complete Recordings

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

That was the way I first heard this band described, by guitarist (and Slumberland head honcho) Mike Schulman. Pam Berry's ethereal, almost impenetrable vocals wash over fuzzed out guitars in the sweetest little broken-hearted songs... eventually, you find yourself singing "just throw her off the bridge, we both know it's gotta be done" and being downright happy about it because you know exactly how much that crush and that unrequited, unnoticed love hurts. Perfect gray-day music from what was easily the best of the first-generation Slumberland bands.

A solid album of proto-shoegazer meets girl group meets noise pop-punk. What I like is that the extremely simple production techniques-- presumably since this is a truly ultra-indie band on a shoestring budget?-- separate the instruments into four "quadrants". On headphones, you can hear this well demarcated. The bass chugs along precisely, the guitar squalls bursts of controlled feedback (J&M Chain-like but less derivative than it sounds), the singer in that fashion beloved by Slumberland bands pouts and plots with a fetching combination of charm and cruelty, and the drummer pounds away with dexterity and drives each song tightly. Each track fits into this template, and their similarity does not wear on you, as this album flies by quickly and its brevity works to keep it fresh.

Most of these tunes, up to and including the Love cover (track 5) of a song that I never could make out lyrically when Arthur Lee spat it out, are strong. Some are more derivative of Lush, J&M C, or Unrest, for example, but all these bands are deserving of imitation, since all of them also look to the same influences as does Black T. However, the best song by far, "Throw Aggi From the Bridge," deserves to be enshrined as a classic "bad girl wants the good guy" song. Overall, while a bit too in love with echo and reverb (band sounds like it records in the bathroom; the singer often sounds as if she's in a wind tunnel, also characteristic of Slumberland label mates Aislers Set and Henry's Dress inter alia) solid, ending a very brief assortment of songs that capture in punchy yet somehow understated and modest fashion the collision of the early 60s with the late 80s.

O.K., I admit that description is a bit basic. If you appreciate the sweet aggression of noise combined with pure pop, this is for you. Every one of the 10 songs is great (one is a Love cover)! Pounding, rolling drums, layers of transparent guitar fuzz, and amidst it all - a pure voice intent on telling you how it is!

More people should have this disc - in a better world, it would be considered essential!

Better late than never...

Using an aesthetic uncharacteristic of prevailing circa-1989 D.C. styles, Pam Berry, Archie Moore, Brian Nelson, and Mike Schulman created a dark, intensely vivid sound. I'm completely biased, but Black Tambourine is just another reason for favoring independent music.

Love cover is amazing.

Tomorrow just tops it all. Pretty much what inspired me to play guitar.

Black Tambourine has this bittersweet charm about them. Just think the surreal female vocals of shoegazing bands like Lush, Medicine, or Bleach, combined with the crunchy walls of guitars of The Jesus And Mary Chain or early Ride. Black Tambourine falls somewhere in between the Cocteau Twins and My Bloody Valentine, and that's not necessarily a bad thing.