Harvey Milk "The Kelly Sessions" CD
[Escape Artist]
I've heard the name Harvey Milk several times over the years, but this the first time I've ever actually heard their music. I don't know the story behind this release, but apparently most of the songs appear on other releases, it's just that these particular recordings, laid down by Kelly Noonan in the mid-90's, are exclusive to this release. Their style is ultra thick and sludgy with a rhythmic approach that has a little bit of a math rock thing going on with plenty of stuttered rhythms and unusual time signatures, not to mention a few noisier passages, but for the most part it's pounding tempos, gritty distortion, and unusually shouted vocals (which at times lean towards a monotone style of yelled singing). Most of the songs are effectively repetitious and build around a handful of riffs that tie together nicely, but with tracks ranging from two-and-a-half minutes to nearly 10 minutes, this isn't a one-sided disc at all. The 9+ minute "Dick Slater/Brown Water" changes things up a bit with a much quieter approach in areas, driven most prominently by drums for the first three minutes, with whispered vocals and faint bass. Finally the guitars kick in for a pulsing sludge groove that's slower than average and backs strangely wailed singing that remains restrained in the mix before dropping back out to near silence a few minutes later, at which point the slow build begins again. "Dating Pressures" is another slower, darker piece that has a dissonant edge bringing in more atmosphere alongside the singing vocal style and really stands out as one of the finer compositions (it wouldn't be so inaccurate to tag this one with terms like "doom" in the least). "Blackbeard" is another doom laden epic, topping seven minutes and opening with sparse and nastily detuned guitar work over eerie feedback, following the most crawling tempo of the entire disc, and later throwing in a killer Sabbath styled run that's among the more memorable passages herein. Among the most rocked out material is "My Broken Heart Will Never Mend", which has some of the most active and quirky riffing going on, while "Anthem" lets the basslines reach a greater level of prominence to add a significant amount of energy to the delivery. The closing track, which the band refers to as "a Leonard Cohen cover, sorta", is a stripped down acoustic take on "One of Us Cannot Cannot Be Wrong" with just dry guitars and vocals, which is actually shockingly effective and adds a whole new dimension to the vocal talents, I have to say. The recording's not bad at all. It's quite good in fact. It's totally clear, the guitars and bass are both distorted and possess nice textures that work alongside one another without any elements getting lost in the shuffle, the percussion is crisp and natural, etc. The vocals seem a little off to the side of the mix and stand out, which can feel a little out of place or give the material an odd live vibe, but I'm quite impressed by the effective ruggedness of the tones in tandem with one hell of a clean mix. I honestly don't care for the layout simply because it's entirely inconsistent, with different random imagery all over every aspect of the release, and very little text. I do like the way the text on the back cover conveys all pertinent information, including the tracklist, in one compact and atypically presented area, but other than that it's pretty bland in appearance and there's not much to look through. I wish the lyrics (which seem pretty weird from the lines I can make out) and more information about the circumstances behind this previously unreleased recording session were included, but what can you do? Fuck it, this is really good material that makes me wonder why it's taken me so long to actually hear this band. I'm not sure if they've always been as obscure as it seems, but if so, I certainly don't understand why. This is good stuff. (7/10)
Running time - 44:07, Tracks: 8
[Notable tracks: Dating Pressures, Blackbeard, Anthem]
Escape Artist Records - http://www.escapeartistrecords.com

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