Crain Reviews:

The Wire
CRAIN
Speed(CD)
Before Grunge ate the world and expired, hideous and gluttonous, its bloated corpse feeding an army of corporate maggots, the post-hardcore scene was a thrilling knot of ideas, energy and possibility. Wire readers will be familiar with Louisville, Kentucky╲s canonical contribution to this, in the form of their foremost sons, Slint. However, like every scene, lost obscurely in the shadows of the shadows of other fellow travelers are heroes unsung but somehow greater. This has been the fate of Crain, whose debut album Speed. First issued in 1992 on the Automatic Wreckords label, was never made available beyond its first pressing of 1,000 copies.
This CD reissue adds four tracks to the eight-track basement sessions produced by Steve Albini. The dynamics required to deliver the post-harcore rush are all present and gloriously correct. ╳Car Crash Decision╹ demonstrates the eternal appeal of the bass, then drums, then guitar stop/start rebuild. ╳Kneel╹ adopts the half-spoken, half-sung lyric over wire-taut scowling rhythms, as does the faster-paced ╳Fuckerman.╹ ╳Ten Miles of Fiction╹ sits somewhere between the melodic leanings of Husker Du and the straight-edge push of early Fugazi. Compared to many scenester exhumations this one is self-evidently worthwhile rather than self-indulgently worthless.

Neufutur
Crain – Speed / 2005 Automatic Records / 14 Tracks / http://www.automaticrecords.co.uk / Reviewed 23 April 2005
With the same sort of detached-from-punk style of Fugazi, Crain looks wistfully back at the wall of sound bands to make a track that feels fit for the Nation of Ulysses-era as much as the later-Fugazi era. The vocals on tracks like “Monkey Wrench” even incorporate a little bit of Danzig to what is already a hard-edge sound. The great thing about “Speed” is that even (almost) 15 years after its release, the sound is still vital and worthwhile. Each section of Crain is given a great time to shine, especially evidenced by the resilient drums (Will’s work) on the disc. A number of the tracks maintain the seeds of what would be consider “emo” in the later period; virtuosic guitars as well as emotionally-intense vocals tying themselves together to make a whirlwind of emotion. The angular sound of “Proposed Production”, coupled with Crain’s impressive ability to take new courses at the drop of a dime, makes for a track that is every bit the equal as “Salad Days”, “Dag Nasty” or even “Waiting Room”.
What is a noticeable twist in Crain’s music that really is not shown in the other “punk” bands of the period is the ability to actually create a bit of atmosphere before busting into a track. With songs like the seven-minute “Kneel”, Crain can set long-range goals that are only realized if individuals listen to the entire track. Crain’s victory here is that they force listeners to involve themselves throughout instead of simply kicking into tracks with a 1-2-3-4. What comes out of Kentucky in 1992 is cognizant of the impending grunge making it big in the Pacific Northwest” and the pop-punk from Orange County stretching its tendrils over the scene. Nowhere is this more present than “King octane” which maintains links to both forms throughout instead of making camps in just one style.
It makes sense that this album sold 1,000 copies in the shortest period – this is some innovative music, made even more impressive considering the cultural wasteland that is the Midwest. Crain’s style, cutting-edge in 1992 still sounds present, urgency and just implores a listener to maintain the dial on that track. This is just as important as anything put out by Minutemen or Wire; hopefully this album in time will be given the proper accolades and introduce all listeners to music that does not necessarily have to conform to one specific style.
Top Tracks: Blistering, Monkey Wrench
Rating: 7.1/10

SPLENDID MAGAZINE
Marx would have to rephrase -- history repeats itself: first as a tragedy, then as a reissue. With Speed, it's more of a long-awaited rehabilitation than a blatant case of collector exploitation. Originally issued in on LP in 1992, and limited to 1000 copies, this ten-song rarity (here expanded to 14 tracks) has achieved near-legendary status over the years, earning the quartet a reputation as The Other Seminal Kentucky Band (besides Slint). Explosive, masterful studies in convoluted rhythmic configurations and violent quiet-to-loud dynamics like astringent opener "Car Crash Decisions" and "Proposed Production" present a vital take on the always dubious "art-punk" category, a damaged vision of contorted electricity that benefited from Steve Albini's sympathetic production, realized with naturalistic detail on an eight-track in his basement, no less. The quartet avoided trite punk-rock clichés by adhering to an obscure and oblique approach akin to Fugazi's (it's worth noting that three of the album's bonus tracks were recorded at Inner Ear studios in DC by McKaye associate Don Zientara). You'll hear authoritarian riffing (probably a strong influence on contemporaries like Helmet), labyrinthine drumming, dueling atmospheres of tension and release, detached melodicism and frequently indecipherable vocals -- all of the intense sonic dramas that would later characterize the post-Spiderland underground (Bastro, Rodan, June of 44, et cetera). Frantic nightmares of feedback and hardcore fury like "Ribcage" or the almost literally incendiary "King Octane" are solid proof of Crain's greatness, which makes it all the more incomprehensible that the band had to languish in relative obscurity for more than a decade; somehow, only a few listeners paid attention at that time. This is one of those rare occasions where a reissue is not an opportunistic move, but a valid chance to rescue an important piece of music from oblivion.
-- Marco Rivera

http://nationsack.blogspot.com/2005/02/car-crash-decisions.html#comments
The excitement of music is back.
Crain
suddenly appeared in my life sometime in 1992. I had heard a little about them, but not too much, so mystery there. They were playing at the Wrocklage in Lexington with a whole slew of good bands, Pitchblende one of them (check the first album Kill The Atom Smasher), but I had heard them and not Crain, so Crain is who I wanted to hear. Plus they were from Louisville, that other town that seemed to have real bands that were for real.
I bet it was all-ages probably about 8pm on a Sunday night, which is usually the most depressing time of the year, but O the Wrocklage made it a magical time. Liminal, even.
Then there was a Crainstorm. Tim Furnish (I think it was Tim Furnish, not Joe Mudd, but I don't finally know) striking heavy on a beautiful, shiny red telecaster, the kind I had mostly seen only played on Hee-Haw, he was dressed like a natty farm boy, with an innocent, tasteful trucker's cap, but he was fucking hard as nails. I can't remember the bass (Jason Hayden) but the drummer looked real young. This Will Chatham turned out to be the best drummer out of all their lineups. And Jon Cook delivered the songs with much hair and real brained-out asssurance.
They played song after song of heavy, nervous and soaring stuff and I had never knew riveting like this. The LP that came out right around that time,
Speed
is being reissued on April 5, 2005 by Temporary Residence Limited with four unreleased bonus tracks recorded not long after Speed. You can download three songs (2 from the album, 1 bonus) with a little donation of your choice through PayPal. This is one of your great lost Southern rock records and I will be glad to have a backup of my worn out cassette.
If the Slint tour has coattails, Jon Cook should saddle up and ride.
posted by stark pimp @ 10:14 PM 1 comments
1 Comments:
At 8:35 AM, dc nahm said...
I can't agree more, nor can I overstate how much I loved CRAIN. One of my favorite bands ever. One of the greats.
I first saw them in 94 I think, at the last Endpoint show. Hardcore is boring, but this shit blew my mind. Heavy but not brutish. Gentle heavyness. And crazy for real. You can sense that. Totally fucking brilliant. Lots of bands are good but few are brilliant like Crain was. They were assured in a totally don't give a shit cause we are bad ass anyway way.
They destroyed any band they played with.
They recorded an album after Heater--my favorite, that Jon Cook played guitar and drums on himself--that has never seen the light of day but I hear it is awesome. Alot of the songs on that one are ones that they playe live when I saw them: I'm a UFO, Kentucky Teenage Telepthic Takeover, etc.
If you don't have it, get the split 7" they did with the grifters. THeir song Coalmine 666 is the shit. I think it is also on the simple machines comp that collects all those songs.
d

http://www.boomkat.com
The reissue of influential Kentucky based post-rock bands seems like buses; you get nothing for a decade then a load show up at the same time. Following on from Slint, Crain (all we need now is Shellac for the full house...) are the latest of the math-rock precursors to get a dust down and polish for a new generation. Originally put out in 1992 and limited to a pressing of just 1000, 'Speed' has been cited by everyone from Fugazi to Jawbox as influence and this will be the first chance most get to hear the actual record. Backed up by 4 bonus tracks of (obligatory) rare/unreleased material, the first thing that hits you with opening salvo 'Car Crash Decisions' is the lack of po-faced dryness that can often pervade such releases. Wide eyed and with a grin on its face, the 8-track recording of 'Car Crash Decisions' packs in a right royal bluster of riffage before isobar tight percussion crashes into view. Produced by Steve Albini, 'Speed' delights throughout in giving equal mix privileges to all the elements employed and, whilst this could potentially be overbearing, it infact leads to an infectious abandonment that characterises the Crain sound.'Proposed Production' is Mogwai-taut climbing instrumentation, 'King Octane' sees an almost alarmingly cohesive fusion of the bands varied elements whilst vocalist Jimmy Mudd sounds like he's being battered to death by the music on the bruising 'Ribcage'. Kentucky fried rock!

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com
Crain
Speed
[Automatic Wreckords; 1992; r: Temporary Residence, Ltd; 2005]
Rating: 7.5

At the dawn of the 90s, post-hardcore quartet Crain joined their peers Slint and Rodan as a crucial component of the era's great Louisville musical diaspora, a movement whose ripples across the rock underground still reverberate to this day. Originally released in an LP-only edition of 1,000, the group's debut album Speed has, despite its scarcity, remained one of the quintessential documents of the scene. And now, packed with four previously unreleased bonus tracks, this handsome new reissue illustrates that the intervening years have done little to diminish this music's pulverizing force.
With their complex song structures and dynamic rhythms, Crain bore enough resemblance to their local contemporaries to secure the always-irksome math rock tag, but in truth their sound was significantly heavier and more visceral than that vague categorization usually implies. Produced with typical unvarnished ferocity by Steve Albini, Speed is a merciless pummel from beginning to end, its brutally precise, thickly-coated riffs delivered with just enough melodic guile to lure the weary listener back inside for further exposure.
At the time of Speed's recording, Crain consisted of vocalist/guitarist Joey Mudd, bassist Jon Cook, guitarist Tim Furnish, and drummer Will Chatham. (An early version of the group featured future Matmos maverick and Pitchfork wag Drew Daniel on vocals.) On the group's best tracks, such as the opening "Car Crash Decisions", the locomotive "Proposed Production", or the drag-strip ready "King Octane" the quartet function as a unit of almost-perfect cohesion, cornering their battleship riffs as though on rails. Each instrument is given equal weight in Albini's bracing 8-track mix, and each player proves capable of shouldering his share, although Mudd's abrasive, tormented screams are often unable to fully surface above the guitars' black, choppy waves.
It's never easy to accurately gauge what influence a particular album has truly had, especially one with such a limited initial release. Suffice it to say, however, that at the very least Speed was eerily prescient in anticipating much of the subsequent work of such acts as Helmet, Jawbox and Drive Like Jehu. One could even make the argument that just maybe Albini took a few of Crain's best ideas along with him to Shellac, although naysayers would probably be just as quick to point out Crain's debts to Big Black. At any rate, fans of nervy, aggressive post-punk thud should find plenty to celebrate in this reissue, enough to hopefully spread Speed's influence even further into the future.
-Matthew Murphy, April 8, 2005

Crain’s Speed back for round two
the long review
Speed
Crain
(Temporary Residence)
post-rock
Crain is probably the most underappreciated band to have come out of the early influential days of Louisville’s post-rock scene. Rising from the ashes of Cerebellum in early 1989, the spastic quartet have shared line space with Slint and, later, Rodan, as being part of the scene that changed everything and defined a genre.
The post-rockers used the same machinations of everyday rock ’n’ roll, but perverted the typical chords and time signatures by jamming crunchy, loud guitars and thundering distorted bass lines into the traditional rock song format. Some, like Slint in particular, made fascinating and tense use of the loud-soft dynamic that Nirvana would soon introduce to the mainstream in 1991 in a more digestible, pop-infused way.
Crain was heavier: more punishing and less forgiving than the others. But there was clear melody, too. That tension — never experienced by most until it was wildly popular, courtesy of Seattle — made the Crain bloodfeast more difficult to stomach for those who would come to cite Slint as the quintessence of the Louisville post-rock sound. But Crain belongs right there in the same conversation; you can hear these songs in so many bands since. That discussion could start and end in Louisville, but the band’s influence stretches as far as cassette copies of their records made it in the national underground scene through the ’90s.
Revisiting this gem — which has since only been available on vinyl — is like getting a history lesson in the Louisville sound, the album a veritable time capsule. This record, the band’s first, ran through its initial pressing of 1,000 in 1992, the same year it came out. The follow-up, Heater, saw a wider distribution and more attention. By then, however, the band had suffered through a number of lineup changes, a haunt that would chase Crain to its grave in 1996, while in the process of recording another album.
Steve Albini — the Chicago-based recording engineer, former leader of Big Black and Rapeman, current frontman of Shellac, and general facilitator of the “Louisville Sound” — put the album to eight tracks of tape in his basement.
The opener, “Car Crash Decisions,” explodes into a chugging dirge within two seconds of pushing play, then moves into the choppy, rigid discourse of the punk of the day, then into a super-melodic chorus that kills every piece of “emo” crap ever recorded, then into a metal-ish riff in off-time. It’s enough to leave you breathless — and that’s just the first song.
Four previously unreleased tunes are tacked onto the end of the disc, and they show a nice bridge to the Heater days. “Fuckerman,” a Speed outtake, moves quickly through a frenetic maze of jangly guitars and _screaming vocals until it hits a wall of a bass and drums breakdown, where the guitars actually do break down into noisy scapes of clatter. The other three were recorded in a later ’92 session, and are of matching brilliance.
BY STEPHEN GEORGE
sgeorge@leoweekly.com

Crain "Heater" (Automatic Wreckords/Restless)
A very fine, very loud, abrasive LP. Crain hail also from Louisville, KY (maybe I should move there...), but unlike Rodan, like to build up and release tension. Great dissonant-yet-hooky (in that air-guitar inspiring way) guitar riffs, and out-of-key-yet-musical shouted vocals a la Fugazi. No total mind-blowers here, save for maybe "Hey Cops," but no low points -- the album is consistently damn good. I just wish they'd pare down the songs with less repetition, and maybe omit a couple of bridges that drag. According to Suzanne McCarthy (Flower Booking), they have found a sixteen-year-old drummer who plays as well as Damon Che, allowing their touring drummer (who originally played guitar and plays guitar and drums on the record, I think) to play guitar live and has improved their live show tenfold. This album was, incidentally, recorded a year ago, so look for bigger and better.

review by Timothy Joseph O'reilly

http://www.tinymixtapes.com
http://www.crainspeed.com
styles: post-punk, math rock, old school emo
others: Fugazi, Drive Like Jehu, Slint, Shellac, Rodan
Speed
Temporary Residence, 1992 (reissue: 2005)
rating: 5/5
reviewer: tamecThe promotional materials for the Temporary Residence resuscitation of Crain's Speed (originally pressed as a 1000-copy LP in 1992) hail the record as "The Holy Grail of Louisville art-punk circa 1992" and state that, as anyone in the know is aware, the two bands at the forefront of the post-punk movement in that particular time and region were the mighty Slint and... Crain! With a lineup originally including Drew Daniel of Matmos and the Soft Pink Truth, Crain, with their Steve Albini-recorded album Speed, seem to promise post-punk greatness by virtue of style, region, and personal connections. Never having heard of the band, I was pleasantly surprised when I threw on the CD and heard some extremely high-quality rock.
Crain is, er, was a band accurately described in terms of other, better-known post-punkers. The time-signature changes and shredding bass work on "Car Crash Decisions" and "Monkey Wrench" sound a whole lot like the Minutemen and Drive Like Jehu, and the spoken word sections of some tracks have a definite Slint feeling. The band's sound can be heard on modern records like those of June of 44 and Sweep the Leg Johnny, and their sonic dissonance and unromantic subject matter place them squarely in the Steve Albini Cool Club. But if what I've said thus far indicates that Crain is derivative, I've erred in my descriptions. Crain sounds like all these bands because they were one of the best, and anyone who owns Spiderland, Rodan's Rusty, or either Jehu LP should allow no delay in picking up Temporary Residence's reissue... unless you'd prefer to shell out $30+ for the LP on eBay -- and you wouldn't get the bonus tracks! This re-release comes strongly recommended.

http://www.kaffeinebuzz.com
Fourteen years ago, Crain, an art-punk quartet hailing from Louisville, Kentucky, recorded their debut album in Steve Albini’s basement on an eight track. They released - and quickly sold - 1000 vinyl copies of the results early the following year and went on to release one more album before breaking up in 1996 before their third full-length could be completed.
Temporary Residence Ltd, recognizing the kind of frustration only armies of DIY punk kids convinced they’re missing an essential record can experience, are now releasing Speed, the long lost debut, on CD for the first time, with an additional four tracks of unreleased material thrown in for good measure.
Speed is a record very much of the time, and on first listen you’ll be hard pushed to find anything worth getting particularly excited about. These are songs very much in the early Fugazi/ Sebadoh vein - rough around the edges, brooding, haphazard, abrasive.
A bit of jangly guitar here, a spot of wailing there, some unpredictable time changes and a fair amount of thudding drums and explosive guitar parts later and you’ve got a complete but decidedly disheveled package.
The wonderful thing about Speed though is that it creeps up on you. Put it in the right context and it all makes sense; several listens in and new complexities reveal themselves; the songs open up, taking you to ever greater depths and slowly but surely you learn to love them…possibly not worth waiting over a decade for, but very worthwhile nonetheless.
www.temporaryresidence.com