 Following their move to the well-regarded SST Records label, Slovenly released their second album, Thinking of Empire that is described by Allmusic as a “flowering of art-punk influences and California punk mindset that is one of the great lost classics of the 1980s”. The album that I picked up, Riposte is considered to be nearly as good and heralded a subtle shift in their style by the addition of acoustical guitars and a more abstract sound that continued on their next two albums. (November 2010) * * * Two audio-only tracks from the Slovenly album that I have, Riposte are available on YouTube: “The Way Untruths Are” at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-q_ZTpLJZE , and “On the Surface” at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXxSNHkNuxo&feature=relmfu . A live track of their song “Orange Crush” (from their 1984 album After the Original Style) can be heard at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7it1Tlft2M&feature=related . If you like what you hear, there are plenty more available on the YouTube website. (November 2012) * * *  Here is the cover of the notorious German children’s stories called Der Struwwelpeter that were translated by Mark Twain; the album cover of the Slovenly album, Riposte is an alternate version.
(November 2013) |
