Artist.......: Endless boogie
Album........: Full house dead
Label........: No Quarter
Genre........: Indie
Catnr........: n/a
source.......: CDDA
rip.date.....: Oct-09-2010
str.date.....: 2010
quality......: VBR/44.1Hz/Joint-Stereo
Url..........: n/a
track title time
01. Empty eye 09:39
02. Tarmac city 04:55
03. Slow creep 10:50
04. Mighty fine pie 06:28
05. Top dollar speaks his mind 08:30
06. Pack your bags 08:37
07. New pair of shoes 04:47
08. A life worth leaving 22:36
Runtime 76:22 min
Size 104,3 MB
Release Notes:
A quick gander at Endless BoogieÆs artist page on
their labelÆs website reveals that they just spent
the month of May touring Europe, leaving one to
marvel that 1) they actually must have European
fans, and 2) Endless Boogie somehow boarded an
airplane. All of the buzz surrounding 2008Æs Focus
Level gave the impression that it was hardly the
stuff of NME dreams, but rather a low-key victory
lap from hometown boys that made good, a
blooze-rock fantasy camp comprised of late
40-something employees of Matador Records with a
frontman who uses the band as an excuse to leave
his house. Focus Level portrayed Endless Boogie as
a band clearly indebted to its namesake, comprising
75 minutes of dueling guitar choogle (really, the
only proper description here) that generally
meandered but occasionally smoked when the drummer
remembered to play. In a perfect world, the raised
pint glass drive of ôComing Down the Stairsö would
be a bar fight staple on every roadhouse jukebox in
America (and itÆs already proved itÆs awesomeness
by somehow playing on the iPod at the hipster ramen
joint in my neighborhood each of the last four
times IÆve eaten there).
Full House Head is Endless BoogieÆs second release
for No Quarter, and while IÆm unsure of their
current day job status, it at least suggests
theyÆve finally warmed up to the idea of being a
viable rock band. Veteran indie jack of all trades
Matt Sweeny has been entrusted with ôproduction,ö
and while in this case that probably means little
more than mic placement and the ôrecordö button,
this time out the band does sound slightly crisper
without sacrificing their appealing mid-fi
aesthetic. But most importantly, the ratio of
legitimate jams to stoned noodling is significantly
higher than it was on Focus Level: the torrents of
bedroom flexing solos remain, but now thereÆs even
evidence that the band was thinking about the
arrangements ahead of time, resulting in cool, dare
I say it, pop touches like false endings and
tension/release climaxes.
ôTarmac Cityö does for a Harley road trip what
ôComing Down the Stairsö did for bar fights, with
Chrissie-Hynde-haircut-clad frontman Paul Major
(aka ôTop Dollarö) hoarsely barking about the
ôrubbery (every?) road / settinÆ me free!!ö over a
filthy slide guitar workout. ôTop Dollar Speaks His
Mindö might as well be the bandÆs krautrock jam,
sitting on a two-note motorik groove for over seven
tension-building minutes before someone steps on a
wah-pedal and sends the song into orbit. The future
hipster iPod staple, though, has got to be ôMighty
Fine Pie,ö a good-timey choogle about a ôwhu-monö
blessed with killer pastry skills (ôKey lime or
mincemeat / Any kind of pie just wanna eat it!ö),
who apparently makes a pie so awesome that Top
Dollar is ôgonna steal it from your windowsill /
you bet [he] will!ö Given their chosen genreÆs love
of saucy double entendre, one can imagine what Top
Dollar really means when he shouts, ôDonÆt need a
fork man / IÆm gonna eat it with my hands!ö But
given the bandÆs hang dog personnel and reclusive
history, and further luscious descriptions of
ôapple, pumpkin, blueberry / any kind of pie will
do baby,ö one can conclude the song probably really
is about Endless BoogieÆs love for quality baked
goods. Bonus points for the ôMmmmm! So Good!!!ö
false ending followed by a deftly placed ôBrown
Sugarö riff.
Ultimately, Full House Head is a significant
improvement over Focus Level: a fine collection of
mindless summer blooze jams from expert players
worthy of recognition. The meandering tracks that
harshed LevelÆs buzz havenÆt been entirely excised,
but thereÆre fewer of them, and the ramped up
production makes them a lot more tolerable. The
inclusion of a 20-minute archival jam (ôA Live
Worth Leavingö), bearing no relation to the rest of
the album, is a questionable move, but it can be
easily avoided. And by that time, youÆll have
likely had all of the endless, blue-eyed boogie you
can stand. Which I think we can all agree is a
healthy problem.