Phil Dirt - Reverb Central - PO Box 1609, Felton, CA 95018-1609 USA  | The is a 7 song cassette from Saturnalia following after the first with better recordings, though still in the demo category. There are some interesting tracks here, displaying inventive rethinking. Most of the music relies on chords instead of melody, and all have a developing story line and lots of drive. |
Picks: Science?... the Savage Frowned, Blammo!, The Great Heist at the Cheese Factory, Across The Deserts Of Salt And Sand, Reverberation Bomb, Fiasco, Sailor Uranus
Track by Track Review
Science?... the Savage Frowned 
Surf (Instrumental)
This tune carries off the surf ethic well, with a more stretched out format and chunky surf tones. It's mean and lean, and sports some very nice guitar work. Influenced slightly by "Secret Agent Man," it moves in a less pop vein than that does.
Surf (Instrumental)
More jam like than the earlier tracks, but it sports a mean double picked main melody line. Powerful and inventive.
The Great Heist at the Cheese Factory Surf (Instrumental)
This is not really melodic, but rather is focused on developing rhythm patterns to tell a story by moving from fast to slow to dramatic to haunting, almost like a backtrack to pre "Killer" Alice Cooper.
Across The Deserts Of Salt And Sand Surf (Instrumental)
Shimmering guitar via vibrato, and a shiny melody of sad distances and limited hope. It is slow and moody, and quite compelling. The double picked break fires speedy licks off before dropping back into the main melody over a more edgie backup.
Surf (Instrumental)
This tune is pretty mean. Not very melodic, but darn nasty. The lead line is near-melodic, a riff that pleases the ear. The guitar work is quite nice as well, especially in the break. Powerful tune that would benefit greatly from a really good recording.
Surf (Instrumental)
Grodie bass and splashy reverbed guitar drive home a bad part of town surf image, with rippin' chord progressions. Some double picking and mucho gusto provide a stormy ride.
Surf (Instrumental)
Funky dockside fun, moody and shimmering with excellent vibrato and richness of guitar tone. This is a temporary state of affairs, because the second verse doubles the pace and assaults the quiet. Too much high hat use, but otherwise it's a fine tune full of energy and power.