marble stature

It's my girlfriend's birthday tomorrow so I am going to make her a cake after I write this.

Luxurious Bags Frayed Knots (Twisted Village, 1995)

I’m starting to think that this might be the most straightforward thing that I’ve ever heard come out of Cambridge’s Twisted Village, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I hear that Luxurious Bags is a bedroom project; if that’s the case, that schizo’s gotta full band in him, because Frayed Knots is a pummeling fusion of Robot World-era Bailter Space, Crystallized Movements, David Baker's Mercury Rev and the first Dinosaur album. Appropriately planned as the final album from Luxurious Bags, who had released two rare LP’s on Twisted Village prior (compiled on the Quarantine Heaven CD), because I doubt that this guy’s vision could be any more succinct and affecting; each of the seven (somewhat long) songs is entirely memorable after first listen- plodding stoner-jangle (“Monster Mind”), junkie noodling (“This Won’t Help a Bit”), in-the-red bluesy drone (“12 Miles Back”), and a long psych-out at the end… you gotta have a long psych-out at the end! I’d say that Frayed Knots is a forgotten classic of this past decade, but I doubt anybody ever really paid much attention in the first place, nevertheless, it’s thankfully still in-print and ready to bite.