Ah, this stuff takes me back. Lo fi was the cat’s meow for quite a while. Once your ear grew accustomed to it, the music was quite easy on the ears. Hearing vinyl and CD recordings that (to a degree) had the fidelity of your crappy band practice tapes might of have been strange at first, but it opened a new door in sonic reality with home taping coming to the forefront. All of a sudden a mysterious murky mix can contain a myriad of possibilities. Early HALF JAPANESE, TALL DWARVES, PETER JEFFERIES, SMOG, AZAILIA SNAIL, DAIRY QUEEN EMPIRE, FLYING SAUCER ATTACK, WEEN, early SEBADOH, the 1st BARDO POND, RICHARD YOUNGS/SIMON WICKMAN SMITH, and plenty others wound up sharing space on my shelves. Although I never owned a SPACE NEEDLE release, I know I heard a couple of these tracks from either a friend or one of many tape compilations I made. I also remember the Roger Dean artwork of their second album “The Moray Eels Eat the Space Needle”.

The retrospective disc kicks off with “Eyes to the World”. This track is comprised solely of drums, vocals and synthesizer-like Farfisa organ. When the well-harmonized vocals stop, the synths (I meant organ, sorry) take over. I’m to assume they are taking up the same track space, so this may not be solely an aesthetic decision. The following composition features the same instruments with the pitch slowed way down. On “Sun Doesn’t Love Me Anymore” we get reverb drenched vocals, clean acoustic guitar, murky bass and some super distorted drums that sound like they were pushing the meters into the red. “Before I Lose My Style” sounds like GALAXI 500 but way more lo fi.

Damn, some of these tracks are givin’ me a headache already. It’s like I have to re-acclimate myself to these acquired tastes again. “Love Left Us Strangers” has some nice bass and nifty Rhodes-style keys. “Old Spice” personifies the pleasure of the lo fi sound when the right amount of noise and melody collide head on. “Put It On the Glass” is guitar instrumental that blends washed out delayed electric with acoustic. Me like. "Beers In Heaven" could be that long lost YO LA TENGO cut. It’s kind of ironic that the closing live tracks “One Kind of Lullaby” and “Where the Fucks My Wallet” have the clearest drum sounds. The latter contains plenty of improvised guitar sludge and noise. Once the effects take over, that band truly heads out into space. Jud Ehrbar’s drumming really propels the piece. Shit, yeah! SPACE NEEDLE was pretty cool.

- Herring

OFFICIAL SITE: Beers in Heaven

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