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2CD
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ADHOC 016/17CD
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"Way back in the '80s, before the term 'alternative' was hijacked to correspond with Seattle 'grunge,' the genre was held in high-esteem for its 'D.I.Y. / low-fi' ethic. The Blitzoids -- along with The Residents, R. Stevie Moore and Eugene Chadbourne -- epitomized this school of thought in the USA. From the headquarters of their native Chicago, Illinois compound (i.e. The De Chiara brothers' record store, which was infamous for its somewhat crude but workable 8-track recording studio conditions), The Blitzoids created songs that went well beyond normally written forms. Aside from the band's basic 'rock' instrumentation, they exploited musique concrete, found sounds and strange instrumentation to define their sonic palette. Different sections of music were seamlessly butted-up against one another to tell musical stories in sharp and clear detail, often giving way to rich, open passages of sound, only to be quickly countered by kitschy, pop-influenced stabs of humor. In the long run, the band's music was at once witty, wacky, artfully strange and wonderfully unique. Drawing on influences like Martin Denny, Rock In Opposition, Captain Beefheart and above all, The Residents, their music was more often left than center, causing the group to appear only sporadically in public. This double disk set compiles the band's entire recorded output (two self-produced LPs plus eight bonus tracks) for the first time digitally, allowing us a crucial re-assessment of an almost criminally overlooked American phenomenon."
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