On A Roll:

Oh Happy Days! I finally got a hold of this Electric Love Muffin Cd that I have been trying to get for years. This is one album that was responsible for really turning my head around for some amazingly well-written kick ass college rock! (haha--yes, i am fully aware of how hopelessly geeky that sounds).

The year was 1988 and i wasn't much older than 13 at the time. As a kid living out in the heartland of America and forced to live a bit of a sheltered life, there really weren't too many chances for me to be exposed to a large amount of music. But every night, i curled up with my tiny radio and tuned into the local college radio station and absorbed every single thing that the late night DJ would spin. It was the opening of a gigantic world that pretty much has consumed me since then. I was not exposed to much music at this point in time in my life anyway...whether it be popular music or otherwise. My main source of audio entertainment was due to the very rare trip to the skate rink (oh god, am i straight up blogging now, or what? sheesh).

anyway...Let's just say that the radio station and the DJ's selections were frying my mind on a minute-by-minute basis every night. I would usually sit by the radio with a small flashlight, a piece of pen and paper so i could scribble down the bands and songs that got me going. then i would call the station the next night and request the same songs with hopes of recording them to cassette. Haha. how funny. I know the DJ was completely sick of me phoning him up almost every evening and requesting the same songs he had just played the night before...but oh well.

Once a week, they would have a segment of their show where they would select a newly released record and play a full side of the record straight through to help promote it. When they announced that they would be playing Side B of an album called Rassafranna by a group called The Electric Love Muffin, I happened to have my cassette recorder ready and captured it snuggly on that Maxell 60 minute sucker!

I also taped a lot of other stuff on that tape, but the Electric Love Muffin stuff really began to grow on me and get burnt into my mind. Years and years later, i stumbled across an unopened LP copy of the record for 1 measly dollar! Sadly, i ended up giving it away to a friend when i was trying to unload some of my stuff for a move overseas. But those same tunes from Side B kept coming back into my memory to haunt me. The stark, those snarling, treble guitars that possess a raucous garage rock fire; the bouncing bass and drums that work up a fever and a sweat, the earnest melodies that seemed to embody the sound of the American midwest college rock years, and that simple sweet feeling of young, drunk, sad, loved, and/or lost.

Great songs, insanely competent playing, wonderful record. The Electric Love Muffin: one of the great rock bands lost in time; now resurrected. Get this one...Side B (tracks 8-14) especially comes highly recommended! :)

By the way, that radio station DJ's name was Dave Deibler (he had a fairly popular band called House Of Large Sizes) and Dave, if you're out there, sorry about all those phone calls.

RASSAFRANNA