http://www.anost.net/en/Music/CD/CD/Dump-Superpowerless.html
Some
people complain that friends today are made with mouse-clicks. As if it was
more personal in the 90s. James McNew for example became a good friend of mine
in 1994. Never mind I hadn't even talked to the guy - hell, he covered Jandek
AND the Silver Apples. We had so much in common!
James
McNew is a fan boy. If the name-drop-list ranging from Albert Ayler to Young
Marble Giants included with his first 45 didnt tell you that, the blazing in
his eyes when a name like the Shaggs was uttered, certainly did. Yet McNew is
not obsessed with obscurity but with music.
When
his debut album "Superpowerless" appeared in 1993, the choice of
covers ranged from Sun Ra to that tune Audrey Hepburn serenaded to millions of
movie watchers, "Moon River". While McNews high, sexy voice might be
"superpowerless", his ears certainly are not. It's been the intimate
sound of a 4-track-recorder that tied these different angles of his eclectic
taste together.
Yes,
Dump was part of the Lo-Fi-generation. Nothing makes that clearer than the
bonus tracks to his follow-up album "I Can Hear Music". Recorded
during the infamous dutch Fast Forward Festival in 1994 in – naturally – a
living room, it contains all that was great about the few short moons of
tape-hiss: colaborations triggered not even remotely by virtuosity (had Chris
Knox ever played trumpet before that afternoon?); cardboard boxes as
bass-drums; the victory of enthusiasm over perfection (have Half Japanese been
covered with more emphaty?); Barbara Manning.
The
only thing that wasnt quite right about these first two Dump albums, was the
format. But as justice doesn't know age, it's good to see these CDs finally
being pressed on vinyl! They deserve it. After all, James is a friend. Did I
mention he's playing bass in Yo La Tengo?
Gregor
Kessler, Hamburg, December 2012
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