Sunday, June 20, 2010

Silent Guests - In My Secret Garden (1981, TW)

The $17 I paid for this was worth it for the leadoff song alone.  The irresistible "Desperate Measures" strikes a balance between the indelible, hook-laden acumen of The Records, and the edgy incisiveness of the Rich Kids without being overly derivative of either.  Oddly enough, as the stylus winds it’s way through In My Secret Garden, the Silent Guests slowly segue themselves onto an icy, post-punk strata by album's end.  If you were to buy the opinion regarding this album expressed on Infected by Records blog you'd no doubt go away with the impression that the Guests were purveyors of  Joy Division-informed "darkwave."  Not true, at least not to this set of ears (although they may be onto something with the Church comparison).  There's a little 154-era Wire wafting it's way through some of side two, but as a whole, Secret Garden isn't overtly bleak albeit it's chilliness in spots.  I would like to give credit to Deadbeats & No Ones for turning me onto this captivating British trio.

01. Desperate Measures
02. Drawn to Water
03. Imaginary Lines
04. Mannequin Parade
05. Leading Me On
06. Gravity
07. The Guests Have Arrived
08. Fictional Girl
09. Hide and Seek
10. The Guillotine
11. In My Secret Garden

Hear

7 comments:

bglobe313 said...

OK, I'll bite.

Let you know what I think.

As usual, thannks for posting such original and unique stuff.

Ace K.

Lucas Gelati said...

Hey, i just wanna thank you for the (long ago) Trim Crusts If Desired post. Thrush Hermit is now one of my fave bands and the plumtree track is awesome too.
I also want your opinion for some underground brazilian bands.

First: Pinheads, punk from Curitiba:

http://demospradownload.blogspot.com/2009/04/pinheads-discografia.html

Second: 2º Piso, hardcore from RS:

http://tramavirtual.uol.com.br/artistas/banda_segundo_piso

http://palcomp3.com/2_piso/

Third: Karisma, heavy metal from São Paulo:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=SPE0LBF4
Live at SESC:
http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=4b402af3d25c307691b20cc0d07ba4d27b20310f91cf861a

What do you think?

bglobe313 said...

Hey, this is really quite good.

Maybe because of the vocal style it reminds me of Game Theory and also Crippled Pilgrims (but of course without the SENSATIONAL guitar work of that group which few can match).

Really good sound with just enough different-ness to stand out.

Unfortunately my download encountered a problem in un-zipping after Track 7. Anyone else have that problem?

Ace K.

spavid said...

I was able to unzip it without incident. bglobe, you may want to d/l with a different browser (though that shouldn't be an issue). If anyone else is having a problem please leave a comment.

bglobe313 said...

Hi Spavid,

It's my strong belief that the problem was on my end. A few snags recently. Anyway, what I heard was really good.

Ace K.

Ariel Salvador said...
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Ariel Salvador said...
This comment has been removed by the author.