Cassette
Phatic transmissions from New Zealand DIY godhead, Robert Scott, home recorded in 1982 and released under the Electric Blood name a year later in 83. Scott is obviously well known for his role in The Bats, The Clean and Magick Heads (along with a seemingly unending list of collaborations under his given name), but the recordings on Ohio represent the first opening of the door into that near-infinite universe. Infinite being the operative word - Scott himself estimates to have written over 1200 songs and having played in something like 40 different bands. Ohio is the very first Electric Blood cassette in a run of releases that ended, perhaps only for the time being, in 2009. It's a little like stumbling upon a Kiwi Kitchen Cynics or early GBV, and at some point someone is surely going to get a compilation of sorts together in an attempt to make sense of this relentless creative energy. As a starting point, Ohio is a steep curve. This is an explicitly DIY experience, the equivalent of hearing a group of art-minded rabble rousers realising their own talents in real time. As low as lo-fi can go, and at times atonal and broken, yet also incredibly addictive. You can certainly hear the early formations of the Clean's oddpop shuffle and the folk-transgressions of what Alastair Glabraith & co ossified into transcendence in the Bats. While some of the kitchen sink hollering might be too rich for the blood of some, the title track alone is worthy of the entrance fee, an early Mountain Goats style jangle that makes you wonder if some are just born with it... Good timing also, with those Clean reissues out this week
