Athens, GA proto-Wave!
1. Do The Method
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2. Can't Act
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3. Distortion
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4. Privilege
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5. Dancing Underneath
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6. No Condition
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7. She
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8. You
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9. E-Y-E
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10. My Time
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11. Rang-A-Tang
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12. Bleeding
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13. Notice
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14. Ask Dana
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15. 20x1
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16. Commotion
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17. Pigeons
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18. Halloween
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19. Hi-Hi-Whoopee
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Acute Says:
The Method Actors were among the earliest bands to emerge from the
same fertile Athens punk/new wave scene that gave the world The B-52s,
R.E.M. and Pylon. Acute Record’s new CD This Is Still It–which R.E.M.’s
Peter Buck describes in his liner notes as “a kind of secret history of
the Athens scene”– revisits the essential early years of the
trailblazing duo.
With just two members, Vic Varney on guitar and vocals, David Gamble
on drums and vocals, the Method Actors were an experiment in just how
much you could do with so little. Using repetitious grooves and stripped
down instrumentation, killer rhythm guitar and thunderous drums, they
underpinned surprisingly pop, hook-laden songwriting with an angsty
racket of barely controlled chaos.
While it was the energy of the typical punk influences like the
Pistols and Ramones that got them kick-started, unexpected influences
like James Blood Ulmer and Capt Beefheart pushed their sounds to odd,
aggressive structures, creating a sort of southern skronk by two guys
who could actually sing. Following in the dance based approach of fellow
Athenian B-52s, they soon incorporated the atmospherics of groups like
Public Image Limited and Joy Division, the minimalism of the Young
Marble Giants and the punk-funk of Gang of Four. Still, they never lost
the ability to focus on the music’s key elements: incessant, stripped
down, trance-inducing grooves and yelping vocal harmonies that vacillate
between haunting melodies and excited spasms.
The early batch of singles that comprise the first half of This Is
Still It were recorded in marathon sessions in a two-person guitar and
drums format that in some ways would lay the groundwork for anyone from
the White Stripes to No Age. By the time they recorded their critically
acclaimed double LP, Little Figures, selections of which fill out This
Is Still It, they were able to stretch out a bit, including adding the
sounds of not just a bass guitar, but steel drums to the mix. All the
while they never lost the ability to focus the music on it’s key
elements of incessant stripped down trance-inducing grooves and yelping
harmony vocals that vacillate between haunting melodies and excited
outbursts.
These two aspects of their sound are represented well by the first
two free downloads included below, but they only hint at the breadth of
their output.
This product was added to our catalog on Wednesday 25 August, 2010.