47. Double Bummer -- Bongwater

Mojo Says: "Sprawling 2-LP debut from New York art couple who made Kim and Thurston look like Margot and Jerry Leadbetter."

Album: Double Bummer
Artist: Bongwater
Year: 1988
Length: 83'20"

Track Listing:

1. Lesbians Of Russia
2. Frank
3. We Did It Again
4. Homer
5. Joy Ride
6. Decadent Iranian Country Club
7. David Bowie Wants Ideas
8. Rock & Roll Part 2
9. Just May Be The One
10. There You Go
11. Shark
12. Jimmy
13. Crime
14. Pornography
15. P.F.W.
16. Dazed & Chinese
17. Bullaby
18. So Help Me God
19. His Old Look
20. Stone
21. Number
22. Love You To
23. Reaganation
24. Double Birth
25. Bruce
26. Pool
27. Rain

Favorite Tracks:

1. Decadent Iranian Country Club
2. Stone
3. Dazed & Chinese
4. We Did It Again

Worst Tracks:
Pornography is cool, but it's kind of uneventful and uninteresting.

Is it weird?
Without a doubt. It probably needs to be much higher.

Review:

A debut album? I don't think I've heard a more unwelcoming and alienating introduction record in my life. But oh, am I fascinated with this one. From the bizzare, unresolved poetry of Decadent Iranian Country Club to the totally insane covers (including Led Zeppelin's 1969 classic Dazed & Confused sung in Cantonese), and having all of it spliced with radio, TV, and movie footage it's just a total sonic barrage, in a good way. As much as I adore Kim and Thurston Moore's work in Sonic Youth, in terms of weirdness, Mojo is right; they can't hold a candle to Ann Magnuson and Mark Kramer. However, this doesn't mean that they're better, they're just weirder.

This is not to say that this is a perfect album. Many of the pure noise pieces go nowhere, and there usually isn't any sort of immediate melody to latch onto. I know that that's basically the point, but that doesn't mean it was executed perfectly. With all due respect for Bongwater, I think it ways something about their compositional skills that apart from my top two track picks, the covers on this album are the most interesting tracks by far.

Still, there is something oddly compelling about this. It's got such a variety of sounds and moods that you'd think it sounds like it has no idea what it's doing, but the intentions are very clear.

Grade:

7/10 


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