USED CD's / Lynnfield Pioneers - Lamp Comp EP (1997)
(item no.: 622)

Label: Lampshop
Released: 1997

 Suppose Brian Eno had continued to rock with the weird abandon of Here Come the Warm Jets, Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy), and "King's Lead Hat"—there might be no need for the Lynnfield Pioneers. But he didn't, and there is. A New York outfit whose three singles have created a strong enough buzz that it has been signed to Matador, the Pioneers compiled these 7-inch tracks in anticipation of their full-length debut for the label in October; the Big M is distributing this disc. With its clanging guitars, cheap keyboards, and half-buried drums, this deranged sound is also curiously pop, like wilderness-era Chilton or, yeah, those Eno sides (a big influence, if I had to guess. I also wouldn't be surprised, though, if these guys had never listened to him—it's that kind of record). The lyrics, mostly decipherable if occasionally puzzling, deal out cryptic images like, "attention span of the one-man band," alongside cheers such as, "Sometimes known as the cruise director! aka the party inspector!"—it's as if Ween were playing a frat party. The biggest winner here is "Contact High," a whipsawing raver that could be the early Pere Ubu covering "Third Uncle." Even with all these referents in play, this is a group with a sound of its own, or at least one that no one else is doing anything with in this summer of Smash Mouth and Jewel. 

Reviewed by Rickey Wright (washingtoncitypaper.com)