Wednesday, October 29, 2008

The Haskells - Hopscotch and Bourbon (1995, Flipside)

Many of you old timers on here remember Flipside fanzine, a content-heavy punk/alt-rock rag that crammed more reviews and articles into one issue than it’s DIY contemporary, Maximum Rock N Roll could in four. To cut to the chase, when the magazine folded in the late ‘90s, it’s in-house record label, Flipside Records (duh) did as well. Aside from some gnarly punk/hardcore compilations, the label released many mediocre LPs by even more mediocre bands, but The HaskellsHopscotch and Bourbon was a thankful and enjoyable anomaly.

Like many before and after them, L.A.’s Haskells flew the three-chord banner with fervor. More specifically, axe-slinger Mark Sogomian, by accident or not, adopted the well-manicured crunch that Bob Mould brandished on the final Husker Du record, Warehouse: Songs and Stories. To my ears, the fourteen cuts here also recall
Mercyland, a band who has been discussed on these pages before. Highly recommended.

01. Spinning Round
02. Brand New Friend
03. She Said
04. Filling the Space
05. Something to Do
06. Pull Back the Skin
07. Willow
08. Media Whore
09. Miss America
10. Karma Machine
11. Superhero
12. Pretty When You're Dead
13. Cross on Wheels
14. Waiting for the Train

Hear

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Wow! Thanks for the amazing writeup! And thanks for the link to the album. I haven't had a copy of this in over 10 years.

alan_XE said...

Whoa, looking for this since a while ago! Cool stuff

alan_XE said...

Whoa, looking for this since a while ago! Cool stuff

Creston said...

Thanks for the kind words about the record. I was looking for a way to link someone to our stuff and came across these search results.

- Creston (drummer - the haskells)

mki said...

re-up? pleeease!

mki said...

Grazie!!