Ye official "one sheet" text:
It finally happened, Prisonshake has completed their long-threatened double album, Dirty Moons. An underground rock Chinese Democracy, maybe, but with less drama and way less money. Guitarist Robert Griffin founded the Scat label in 1989 for Prisonshake, and to some extent it has continued to exist in hopes of releasing this album. These recordings, all but one done entirely in the analog domain between 1995 to 2007, encompass both realism and psychedelia, sometimes via tape manipulation and found sound. Performances range from the completely live (even vocals) to near Bob Ezrin levels of production, but all have an everybody-in-the-room recording at their core.
Right off the bat, one can’t help but notice the guitars here. This is a shameless rock and roll album, where guitar solos, passion, syncopation and fingertips are celebrated. The group are native speakers of rock language and have done it long enough to have their own dialect, both in terms of the individuals’ playing voices (yes, drums have a voice, too) and in terms of songwriting and arrangements. The group is also blessed with the sublime talents of principal vocalist and lyricist Doug Enkler, who has a rare knack for putting words to ambiguous human moments (when he isn’t being a smartass), and who is able to hit emotional chords without being confessional or lovesick.
But make
no mistake, Dirty Moons aims to stimulate ALL chakras with its orgy of
ripping guitars, beautiful losers and inbred songs, grown in the dark
like mold when no one was watching. Conflict is always present in the
songs, sometimes even between them; this is heard in the lyrics, between
countermelodies, sections of songs, instruments, and beyond, forming the
central organization of the album. Prisonshake’s somewhat ecumenical
aesthetic, wherein punk rock and its more poorly-behaved descendents are
as celebrated as some of the music they sought to destroy, ungenrefies
the songs. This, along with the long gestation period, provides an especially
large world of rock, where surprise can be had all the way up to the final
minutes of the album.
tracklisting:
side 1
1. Fake Your Own Death (5:45)
2. I Will Comment (2:34)
3. The Cut-Out Bin (3:18)
4. Dream Along (4:33)
5. “You’re Obviously the One” (4:05)
side 2
1. Your Sad Friend (1:01)
2. Favorite Hospital (2:26)
3. Scissors Suite: (11:58)
The Wonder of Me
Rebecca, You’re the Rain
Visiting Hours
Turn Blue
Memo from Chambers
4 . The Understudy (4:05)
5 . Nowhere Near (slight return) (0:37)
side 3
1. Janus (2:28)
2. Year of the Donk including The Leftover Monkey (10:25)
3. We’ve Only Tasted the Wine (6:03)
side 4
1 . In Disguise (3:00)
2 . Crush Me (3:09)
3 . Fuck Your Self-Esteem (3:17)
4 . Go Blind (3:32)
5 . It Was a Very Good Year (5:12)
Scissors Suite is one track on the vinyl, but each section is indexed separately on the CD. Both formats will contain the exact same program although they seem to have a different number of tracks.
A couple songs were released in demo versions on some singles and comps long ago, these recordings are all new and definitive.
You can stream a few songs from the album here. Tracks changed every month or so.
In
honor of our single-centric past, in December 2007 we released The Nice
Price 7".
order
discography:
Fairfield Avenue
Serenade +2 7" (Herb Jackson, 1987)
120 Days EP 7" (Herb Jackson, 1988)
Deanna +1 7" (Scat, 1989)
3 songs, Hotel Cleveland LP (Scat, 1989)
Loaded Deck 7" EP (Scat, 1989)
I'm Really Fucked Now CD+LP+7"+CS (Scat, 1990)
Almost Christmas +2 7" (Scat, 1990)
1 song, Gimme Some Santa 7" (Scat, 1990)
Della Street
10"/CD (Scat, 1991)
Frustration, split 7" w/My Dad Is Dead (Scat, 1991)
Someone Else's Car +2 7" (Sympathy, 1992)
Then She Prayed (orig) +1 7" (Rubber AUS, 1992)
Spoo EP 7" (Estrus, 1992)
2 Sisters +2
7" (Scat, 1993)
The Roaring Third LP/CD (Scat, 1993)
Failed to Menace CD (Matador UK, 1994)
one song, Chairman of the Bored 2CD (Grass, 1993)
one song, 3128 Seconds over Cleveland CD (WUJC, 1993)
Jimjimmyjimjim +1 7" (Carcrashh, 1994)
Fuck Your Self-Esteem +2 7" (Wabana, 1995)
one song, The Basement Recordings (OTC, 1995)
3 songs, split 7" w/The Figgs (Flipped Out, 1996)
two songs, Second Semi Annual Report CD (Scat, 1997)
The Nice Price 7" (Scat, 2007)
collections and
non-US editions:
Singles
'87-'89 4x7"box (Scat, 1989)
A Girl Named Yes LP/CD (Rubber AUS, 1990)
I'm Really Fucked Now 2LP/CD (Rubber AUS, 1992)
The Roaring Third (Shake CAN, 1+2 JAP, both 1993)
compilation appearances with available-elsewhere songs have not been included, some of the dates may be a little off...
since '95, PS has
been
Doug Enkler - singer
Robert Griffin - gtr
Patrick Hawley - percussion
Steve Scariano - bass
Joe Thebeau - kind assistance when needed
contact: scatrecords (at) gmail (dot) com