Yes, finally for all you Harriet Records collectors out there, Crayon's semi legendary album 'Brick Factory' has just been re-issued by Happy Birthday To Me records. Not only is it for the first time on vinyl but it also has a bonus song compared to the original Harriet Records CD. It also comes with a download card that gets you an extra 21 Crayon rarities. Yes it's like getting a great big set of Crayons for Xmas.
Now, for anyone who hasn't heard of Crayon they were one of the bands in and around the Olympia, Washington scene at the start of the 1990's and while they didn't make it onto Kill Rock Stars or Teriyaki Asthma compilations they share much of the same musical aesthetic to the groups on both those legendary compilations and also credit many of the same people involved with those records too.
So yes, they play Olympia, Washington style lo-fi shambling barely able to play their instruments indie punk, but from the opener Live With It Baby where the singer mopes about being disappointed over shambling chaotic guitars it's quite a noise. This almost falls into Small: an urgent attempt to sound like the Undertones pop punk that's also full of screams for nothing.
Chutes And Ladders is a shambling quiet-loud rampage of noise that sounds a bit like Icky Joey if anyone remembers them. The Snap-Tight Wars has some cool and odd lyrics and sounds like the Pixies fronted by Jad Fair. It concludes with a well odd solo and is one of the stand outs for me just for that burst of weirdness alone.
Crown is a pretty off key song about how much they hate an ex before they slow things down a bit on Western Flyer, wherein they tell us how much they want to leave. Pedal has about the best riff on the album and the vocals do their best to sound like Peter Perrett singing "lonely planet boy" while all around them the noisy chaos breaks out.
The B-side opens with Snow Globe, a not very wintry sounding messy shamble of a tune. Reason 2600 tries to out shamble Pavement at their most shambolic and almost manages it as it's very slanted. Honey Bunny is more falling apart at the seams lo-fi noise pop.
They then ask if there is Hope In Every Train? Well I really don't know but this is a desperate plea for more shambolic noise that somehow comes to a quiet ending as they fall down. I have no idea what a Schirm Loop is and don't want to find out judging by what is the most upbeat song on the album which goes all Daniel Johnston meets Mecca Normal on us.
Knee High Susan is sort or a re-write of A Plea For Tenderness by the Modern Lovers only for someone else's girlfriend and sung through the medium of candy-based analogies and pleas of love. It is, however, a very cool mess of a tune for a girl to reject you to. The album finishes with the bonus song All the Stars that's an angry and angsty shambles to bring this messy album to a close.
Now for the Crayon completists who have downloaded the bonus tracks, these are songs recorded for compilations, singles, split singles and an FM radio appearance, plus some demos and live tracks. It's a real grab bag and the opener Secret Goldfish is a pretty cool tune that holds back on the feedback a bit, unlike Penny Lock which is drowning in feedback and distortion to the point of being tough to listen to.
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Jenny Don't Be Sad would be a sweet little love song but for the noises buzzing and fizzing in the background. I Could sounds like it should have been on Hut records; a good little tune. Before the noise breaks out and the shambling nightmare of Too Much Sugar is hard to listen to.
This Dream Is Gone sounds pretty focussed compared to most of Crayon's output. It's still drowning in reverb though but a cool song nonetheless. So Forever Nearly True is another good single with only some feedback distractions that reminded me of The Strangulated Beatoffs a bit. Pumpkin Patch is slower, lower in the mix and barely there, like a demo they haven't worked out what to do, with rather than the split single it was.
Another King Of The World is a Steelpole Bathtub-esque hurricane of sound rush of a song. The three tracks from Crayon's Moominland 7" fly by in a whirl of messy shambolic noise that doesn't sound at all Finnish but just a bit chaotic.
The live radio version of the Snap Tight Wars sounds tighter and better than the album version for about two thirds of its length, until they bring the noise momentarily, then it's back in focus and overall it's a pretty cool version. The 4 track demos sound rough and ready and I really like the noises on Matchbox. They sound like he is running his hands up and down a guitar plugged into a hissing mess of an amp. Green Stamp probably needs a shield to keep all the feedback at bay and is about as lo-fi as this lo-fi band get. Zombie is not a cover of either Fela Kuti or the Cranberries but a bass-led thrash along in need of some help to fight off the Zombies..
A live version of Forever Nearly True is a real fan-only item; totally inessential but a good sign that they were as shambolic and chaotic live as on record if nothing else. The unreleased Madison almost sounds more produced than most of the other material but with the Daniel Johnston meets Dinosaur Jnr feel to it, so it's a bit understated.
Ten Speed Summer only sounds like a racing bike careening towards disaster created with a welter of distorted noises. The bonus tracks end with Grub Snow Only played live in Seattle and it is shambolic in extremis; in keeping with the messy noise Crayon seemed to revel in while singing about, erm, Liquorice.
This album is for collectors of the Olympia scene, Harriet Records and lovers of shambling indie noise in general.
Find out more at Happy Birthday To Me Records online
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