Matthew J Barnhart

Recording, live sound, and mastering engineer, tour manager, and amateur janitor based in Denton, Texas. Co-owner of The Echo Lab recording studio. Occasional svengali of Works Progress. Member of Tre Orsi and other notable social networks. I have a Tumblr of tour photos and other miscellania.
9 January 2003

My bisected earthworm don't want none unless you got buns, hon'.

Happiest of happy birthdays to two of my best buds (ha!) and Kiki, the punk librarian from Mobtown. What a blessed occaission, this anniversary of their respective births. Makes me tingly and goofy-hearted. To celebrate, robo is drinking at home, playing video games. Lucky man!

In fascinating important news, I have hitched yet another ride on the vegan train. Do not tempt me with mayonnaise sammiches.

Records! All vinyl this time out (I've been on a kick lately):

–> The Fall “Live At The Witch Trials”: This 180g, Italian re-ish of the Falls seminal, neck-twichingly great debut hit the spot quite nicely, especially considering the damage done to my opinion of them with their dreadful showing at All Tomorrow's Parties this past April. A lot of folks (Kiki, namely) loved that show, because a lot of folks are apologists for washed-up nincompoops who like to shit and smear it all over their legacy by fronting a Fall cover band staffed with grunge-hack rejects.

But I digress. Buy it now!

–> Fiddlehead “The Deaf Waiter”: Years ago, Allied Records (the label that issued this 10″ EP) released a compilation of punk bands called, “Music For The Proletariat”. Alongside J Church and Jawbreaker and Seein' Red was a track by this Atlanta band, which I remember liking a good amount. Now, if I hadn't sold the CD 5 years ago, I might have remembered that I only liked the first 30 seconds of their tune, (a tough, charging Drive Like Jehu sentiment) before it descended into lame '90's alt-rock typification for the rest of the track. “The Deaf Waiter” is made of the same middle-of-the-road matter that made up the lion's share of that one tune, and as a result, is really disappointing. But hey, it was $4 at Good Records, so why the hell not?

–> Scratch Acid “s/t”: Fantastic debut 12″ from pre-Jesus Lizardites Yow & Sims. Yeah, you can get this on CD (along with everything else they did) from Touch & Go for not too much more than I paid ($10), but man, it sounds incredible. The rhythm section (Sims and Rey Washam) are astounding, solid and just plain scary.

Of course, I called Kiki right after I purchased this to gloat a little. And of course, she already had it, along with everything else they ever did, and even saw them play in DC back in the day. She rules.

–> Ganger “Soul Static Sound Trilogy 12.3″: I mainly bought this because I already have the first two in the series, and I'm selectively obsessive-compulsive. Not as engaging as the first two singles, but as a work of art it's impressive.

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