Some bands try to make order out of chaos, but at their best, Rodan showed how order and chaos could peacefully coexist, nimbly leaping from quiet, focused contemplation to crunching peals of guitar-based noise while maintaining a strict framework of rhythm and dynamics that kept it all in place. Rodan are often compared to their fellow Louisville natives Slint, and with good cause, but while Slint they didn't reach their full potential until their second album, 1991's Spiderland, Rodan managed something nearly as powerful ...
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Some bands try to make order out of chaos, but at their best, Rodan showed how order and chaos could peacefully coexist, nimbly leaping from quiet, focused contemplation to crunching peals of guitar-based noise while maintaining a strict framework of rhythm and dynamics that kept it all in place. Rodan are often compared to their fellow Louisville natives Slint, and with good cause, but while Slint they didn't reach their full potential until their second album, 1991's Spiderland, Rodan managed something nearly as powerful and every bit as ambitious on their first and only full-length release, 1994's Rusty. Given how small Rodan's catalog is despite the long shadow of their legacy (Rachel's, June of 44, Retsin, Come, and the Shipping News are just a few of the bands that included their alumni), any new discoveries are welcome, and The Hat Factory '93 presents a recently rediscovered album-length demo tape the group recorded in Baltimore before they began work on Rusty. Four of the five songs on this release also appeared on Rusty, and the arrangements aren't radically different, while the remaining tune, "Exoskeleton," appears in a different recording on the Fifteen Quiet Years collection of rarities and single sides. But even if you're not getting much in the way of surprises here, The Hat Factory '93 has a somewhat looser and livelier feel that more closely recalls a live performance as opposed to the richer, more careful production Bob Weston brought to Rusty. "Looser" is a relative term here, as Rodan still sound tremendously tight and intuitive, and the interplay between the four musicians -- Jason Noble and Jeff Mueller on guitars, Tara Jane O'Neil on bass, and Jon Weiss on drums -- feels almost telepathic as they thrust and parry through this set. The audio on The Hat Factory '93 is crisp and well-detailed but unadorned, and it's the simplicity that most makes this worthwhile; anyone who imagined the rich dynamics and carefully interwoven performances on Rusty were the product of exhaustive studio craft will learn that Rodan could essentially set up and do this on command, which makes their accomplishment all the more remarkable. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
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Add this copy of The Hat Factory '93 to cart. $25.22, new condition, Sold by Importcds rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Sunrise, FL, UNITED STATES, published 2019 by Quarterstick.
Add this copy of Hat Factory '93 to cart. $30.18, new condition, Sold by newtownvideo rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from huntingdon valley, PA, UNITED STATES, published 2019 by Quarter Stick.
