Saturday, August 15, 2020

Jet Black Factory - Days Like These ep (1986, 391)

Like many (perhaps even most) of the groups I post about here, Jet Black Factory made it to my radar only posthumously.  When I did finally start to encounter what records/CDs I could locate approximately twenty years ago, I was scared off by the very inaccurate assumption they were industrial or goth (after all, Factory was part and parcel of their name).  To my detriment I had been putting off some genuinely earnest indie rock that was far more organic than the ill-informed notion I had ignorantly planted in my head.  On their debut (yep, Days Like These) they didn't have much intimidating in store after all, but still mightily effective.  Frontman Dave Willie wielded a delivery that suggested a welterweight Mark Lanegan (not that he was deliberately aspiring to sound like the real McCoy) and his three fellow Nashville compatriots play rugged, distortion steeped tunes with thoughtfulness and depth, sans any contrived mystique or gimmickry.  "Tonight" is my go-to song here. Though my memory banks aren't bringing up much in the way of accurate comparisons, you're bound to come up with one or two on your own I'm certain.  Days Like These was followed up by another ep and two long-players.  Apologies for the radio station call letters adorning my humble copy. 

01. Real Down Ticket
02. By the Temple
03. Tonight
04. Chelsea
05. The City Sleeps
06. Waters Edge

Hear

6 comments:

Addison Bortion said...

Hey, I apologize if this is uncouth or perhaps rude for me to ask for, but I have a request....

At some point, verysmall.bandcamp.com deleted their account, and it's been driving me crazy, because I listened to a lot of the music on their when I was in high school. Would it be possible for you to maybe upload some of their releases? The ones that I'm most interested in particular are :

Various Artists - Wood Panel Pacer Wagon With Mags from 1996 [technically released as "Very Small Records" according to discogs.]

Horny Mormons - Semi-Complete Thingy with the Demo, the Split, Comp Stuff and Live Junk, from 2003

Various Artists - Songs About Drinking, from 1994

Various Artists - Very Small World, from 1991


Again, I apologize if this is rude to ask of you, and if you don't have any of this stuff I understand, but it's been driving me crazy for awhile and I thought I'd at least try to ask for help.

Howard said...

Thanks for posting this. I only knew of the House Blessing / The Uncrossing LPs which heavily overlapped in tracklists. The best thing out of Nashville.

spavid said...

Hi Addison. I'm also aware of Very Small's unfortunate decision to disable their Bandcamp account. I don't possess any of these titles digitally, and the only one I have physically (Wood Panel Pacer...) is far too much of a beast to convert to ones and zeroes. Maybe if I can find someone who was smart enough to capture all these files when they were up I could eventually relay them. In the meantime would the Soup demos be of any interest to you?

You're welcome Howard. Wish I had investigated JBF earlier. Must have been killer live.

Addison Bortion said...

I don't know what the Soup demos are, sadly. But I am willing to wait for the Very Small stuff if you're really willing to look. Thank you.....

Unknown said...

This was the first release that I ever bought by mail order - I saw an ad for it in The Big Takeover that described it as The Cure fronted by Jim Morrison.

Darrin said...

Thanks for posting this. I've never gotten around to ripping my vinyl copy, and now I don't have to. Wish this had made it to Spotify along with House Blessing/Duality.

And spavid, they were indeed an incredible live band.