Friday, March 2, 2012

Come - Eleven : Eleven








  Slow trodden and boldly dissonant, Eleven : Eleven would go on to make its permanent mark on the then fertile American noise-rock circuit of the early 90's.  The band behind it, Come, received unending praise from all corners (Cobain, Mascis, Mould, et al) yet its hard for me  to say  where they fit in that pantheon, so I won't go there.  Perhaps they're that band you come across when you are searching for the missing link between the loud and the slow that would categorize the influence of grunge onto the quieter acoustic waters of sadcore?  Who knows?

  Chris Brokaw, then the drummer of Codeine, decided to get together with a few friends and enlisted the vocal gruffness of Ms. Thalia Zedek.   In 1991, they produced the single "Car" followed by this, their first full-length, in '92. Their earliest material definitely drew inspiration from the bluesiest moments of  the Birthday Party and set a standard for the quartet with their major label debut on Matador records.  Be advised however, Yo La Tengo this is not!

  The Opener "Submerge" is ode to spiraling downward, a lullaby written for a nowhere generation.  Actually, Zedek and Brokaw manange to maintain a sense of bottomless-ness through it all making it difficult to find a single hook or chord progression that climbs its way out.  "Brand New Vain" creeps along with a guitar tone similar to what I think Dylan Carlson was trying to go for in some of Earth's latest releases albeit less repetitive and way, way darker.  There is a brief interruption with the song "William" which moves at slightly quicker pace than the rest and reminds me of the sound that Sonic Youth was also trying to go for at that time in their career as well.  I have to admit though, its the downers that really make this album worth listening to, and with all respect to Kim Gordon, Thalia just bums me out more.

  My favorite song, and definitely the reason that I began listening to this band in the first place, is "Off to One Side."  This pretty much captures everything I mentioned above perfectly.  In my wild imagination it blocks out the sun and sucks all of the good times out of a college rock obsessed youth culture for whom four years is just enough to discover everything and yourself.  Think of it this way:  "Detouring America with Horns," might bring back those brighter memories of partying with your girlfriend and getting shit-faced in your dorm; but then there were those nights of aimless driving when you doubted love and nothing mattered anymore because, well, it was all nothing anyway.  Thanks a lot Come.

Eleven : Eleven




-Frank