ST 37
Future Memories (Four/Four)
The “Keep Austin Weird” bumper sticker can be multipurpose of course, but there are certain facets of the underground to which it applies in spades. ST 37 has been keeping it weird since 1987, and this wild and woolly collection of rarities and unreleased material proves that, through dozens of lineup changes and countless releases, they’ve been an influence on the past as well as the future. The vitriolic “Sucking on the Family Tit” and electric boogie of “Egg People” kick open the floodgates and let in the creeping viscosity of the oddly danceable “Look at Yr Chair.” A cover of Hawkwind’s “Orgasmatron” sounds deliciously (mid) evil with female vocals and trails of feedback and “(I Don’t Need No) Hoodoo Woman,” with its Seventies wham jamming and rainbow-chattering vocals, is a psych rock cream dream. An instrumental version of Bowie’s “Speed of Life” creates a little interstellar overtime, and “Eating Dirt,” recorded live at KVRX in 1997, is a gold dust rush of noise. It’s the building paranoia of the sample-laden “Should I Get My Own Friends … A Whole New Ballgame” vs. the upbeat “No Tourniquet for Love” that keeps ST 37 true to what psych rock has always been about: keeping it weird. Drone on.
This article appears in November 4 • 2005.