ARTIST: Houseguest
TITLE: High Strangeness
LABEL: Audio Eagle/Fat Possum Records
GENRE: Indie
BITRATE: 200kbps avg
PLAYTIME: 0h 37m total
RELEASE DATE: 2007-05-15
RIP DATE: 2007-03-14
Track List
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1. Fashionable Living Room 1:56
2. Gone For The Season 2:36
3. Dive Deep 3:01
4. On Walden Software 1:30
5. It's Not You (But That's Just 2:54
Me)
6. Are We Us? 1:59
7. King Of Crystal Skies 3:15
8. Galapaghost Island 2:05
9. Muted Mesa 4:23
10. Silvereye 2:58
11. Where We Left Off 1:41
12. Gravy Shift 1:33
13. Heliport Impressions 2:30
14. Where My Body's From 5:17
Release Notes:
Houseguest is a band of five good-natured, intellectual goofs, and on High
Strangeness, that attitude is not understated. They play wild and loose tunes
similar to the Replacements, but with an epic, baritone-voiced singer instead of
a gravelly voiced one.
The baritone belongs to Ted Mallison, a singer with enough attitude and cool to
make the girls timid and the boys jealous.
While his lyrics might lack profundity, that is the appeal. This is not a jab at
MallisonÆs lyrical skill, because the songs about his stylish living room and
survival on a strange island have more depth than they might seem.
Houseguest has built a solid local reputation, thanks to boozy live shows where
they play so hot and fast that the crowd and band members canÆt help but get
seminaked. The scorching speed is spawned from Dave Rich and Dave WhitedÆs
twin-guitar attack.Rich and his Telecaster command most of the leads on High
Strangeness, and he excels.
Are We Us? showcases RichÆs best work as he swiftly plucks his strings while
Mallison sings about wanting to be alone as the world ends. Think a very early
but faster Dire Straits.
Rich and Whited tag-team Silvereye with a combined solo better than anything
Thin Lizzy could imagine. This kind of pomp enjoyment both have on guitar
ultimately defines Houseguest ù this is what entertainment is all about.
Bassist Gabe Schray and drummer Steve Clements more than adequately hold up the
rhythm section. Schray is the backbone of the band, starting it with Whited in
2000 recording songs on his four-track.
ClementsÆ rat-a-tat-tat drumming is never overpowering and gives a song such as
ItÆs Not You (But ThatÆs Just Me) structure, allowing the band to have fun
around him. Clements, a schooled jazz pianist, provides keys on Dive Deep and
Where My BodyÆs From, rounding the album with added emotion.