We know D.C. Get our free newsletter to stay in the know.
Martin Phillipps
Flying Nun
In 1992, when I shuffled up to the counter of my local record store to buy tickets for one of the Chills’ last-ever U.S. live dates, the indie-rock-hipster clerk who took my money gave me a piece of his mind. “The Chills used to be good,” he said, “but their newer stuff is overproduced.” I countered with something about how band leader Martin Phillipps’ shimmering, multilayered songs seemed to me to benefit from lavish production. I cited the group’s major-label debut, 1990’s Submarine Bells. But he wouldn’t hear it: “Nah, his rawer stuff is better.” Phillipps’ new solo release, Sketch Book: Volume One, culls 17 songs from the 200 or so the Dunedin, New Zealand-based musician recorded on his four-track Portastudio between 1988 and 1995. According to Phillipps’ liner notes, the tracks were “quickly, often roughly, thrown down onto cheap tapes with poor-quality microphones.” Indeed, the recordings clatter with low-budget percussion, crackle with oversaturation, and sometimes nearly drown in tape hiss, but Sketch Book’s many great moments make you forget all about production values: “February” rushes by in a joyous blur of ’60s-damaged keyboards and jangling guitars, “Residential Green Cell” unfolds with slithery grace, and “Hawea” pays moving tribute to the lake where Phillipps’ four-track finally died. Not all of the album is so impressive, however. Some cuts should have stayed in the home-studio vault, and others really do require more fully realized treatments: “No More Tigers” hints frustratingly at muscularity, “Haunt Me” inscrutably shifts between death march and doo-wop, and “Carabela” needs a hefty dose of dramatic tension. If I ever see that record store guy again, I’ll have to tell him that, in a way, we were both right.—Leonard Roberge
This isn't a paywall.
We don't have one. Readers like you keep our work free for everyone to read. If you think that it's important to have high quality local reporting we hope you'll support our work with a monthly contribution.