I hesitate to do so, but I'll start today's entry by quoting a bit of juvenilia. I published a zine for a few years in the 1990s called Sticks and Stones (back issues, as always, are available for sale here), and in an early issue, I interviewed Run On drummer Rick Brown. At the time I was still learning how to flex my rock crit muscles, and came up with this as a way to describe the band:

"Take a look at Run On on a part-by-part basis -- wanky guitarist, busy percussionist, artsy violinist and singing bassist -- and it sounds intriguing, but would you really want to hear the result? Not likely. Add personalities to the mix, and things become more intriguing still, and make you want to hear what this odd mix of talents and styles sounds like."

The thing is, after more than a decade of writing extensively about rock music, I'm no closer to capturing what it is like to hear a Run On album. Thanks to a lifetime of listening crammed into that decade, I can now reference like-minded bands such as Yo La Tengo and Antietam who blend sounds and styles to create something unique. But that doesn't get at what a disc like Start Packing sounds like.

I can wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone with adventurous tastes, anyone who might read the slightly tortured description above and say, "Actually, I would like to hear the result." Things start with Sue Garner, now an acclaimed solo artist on Thrill Jockey and then known better as part of Fish and Roses and the Shams. Her simple songs are slinky, a bit sexy and offer the perfect framework for that "busy percussionist," her husband Brown. The "wanky guitarist," downtown scene-maker Alan Licht, colors the songs with inventive, often incongruous yet intuitive lines, and multi-instrumentalist David Newgarden fills in the gaps. The band is at its best here when it finds a groove and fully explores and exploits it. "Go There" is the most successful track for doing just that, while several others here show fits of brilliance when they follow suit.

The band didn't last much longer, issuing the more urbane follow up, No Way a year later. Part of that refinement can be credited to Katie Gentile, a violinist who replaced Greenberger. Her presence sweetens the band's sound, though the abstract, jagged edges remain. Garner went on to that solo career that echoes the best moments of her old band (those being the moments where she, rather than one of the fellas, sings), while the rest have been relatively quiet of late.

MP3: Go There
MP3: Xmas Trip

Next week: The Someloves - Something or Other

Labels: music, OOTS