Trippin' out:

Here's another group of musicians that I feel never received the proper respect and attention due to the fact that they were creating music that was somewhat out of their time. While the rest of the world was awash in the turgid flow of "grunge" Minneapolis band, Trip Shakespeare who was busy crafting unusual songs full of Merseybeat jangling guitars, cryptic lyrics, and three part harmonies that almost reach a Vaudeville-like crescendo at times. Think of it as power pop with a paisley twist. Certainly not for everyone...but something about this band has always fascinated me...due to the fact that their sound occupies it's own singular vision. I have never heard another band that emulates this same audio space within pop music. That a compliment!

I wrote a bit in the previous Electric Love Muffin piece about discovering loads of bands through the college radio station in the mid west and Trip Shakespeare's album Are You Shakespearienced? is one of the earliest examples that comes to mind. The song "Tool Master Of Brainard" (see how weird that is...? What band names their song "Tool Master Of Brainard"??? haha--great!) opens with an almost acid-rock riff while the angular solo bit kicks in. Towards the middle of the song, the listener is treated to a 90% accapella call and response bit that is almost goofy in it's hushed theatrics and over the top vocal posturing. But it's these kinds of moments within Trip Shakespeare's twisted little pop world that makes it all the more worth the while.

on with IT!

Artsy Astronauts:

Trip Shakespeare, a long defunct Minneapolis-based American rock band was granted a permanent place in the early bunkers of my musical memory due to hearing their strange "Tool Master of Brainard" song repeatedly on the college radio station that I tuned into late at night. What a great song, full of glammed up guitars, a pounding rhythm section, and that unique Trip Shakespeare vocal approach that fused baroque harmonies with a decidedly goofy slant. I already posted that album back over here (oops-link is dead now. I'll repost if there is a request), so now it's time to get into their 1990 platter Across The Universe. This album carries the same trademark sounds that I have loved from this group, but this time the song craft has been sharpened a bit; revealing a bit more layered approach both in production and composition. The jangly songs are played harder, the sweet songs are sweeter, and the goofy element certainly comes into play on tracks like "The Nail" and "The Slacks" (whose lyric concept is so ridiculous that it boggles my mind that it was even recorded in a semi-serious manner). Personally, I find the more tuneful songs here to be most potent. Both "Gone, Gone, Gone" and "Late" are pristine examples of T.S.'s literary take on lyric writing and compelling and somewhat mysterious storytelling that grab the imagination while the sheer hook of the tune just drives the song deeper into the brain.

As I wrote in the previous post of this Trip Shakespeare, their music seemed to have it's own singular vision which I have never heard duplicated. Sure, the basic template is a big pop sound... T- Rex, XTC, Big Star, Posies are names that may come to mind; maybe even a little bit of Cheap trick in there. But in place of cool rockers playing this stuff, imagine the local college Poetry Club or Paisley Appreciation Society jamming it out. Yeah...corny, for sure; but a lot of fun.

SPACE OUT