10. Amusement Parks On Fire- Amusement Parks On Fire


There's something about home recording that surpasses the trickery of studios, as Cody Chesnutt' The Headphone Masterpiece proved and so does this one. This album was recorded by young Englishman Michael Feerick in his bedroom but boy, it's definitely no maudlin, self indulgent affair. Feerick has affinity with late-eighties rockbands like Ride, Jesus and Mary Chain and Swervedriver- using their sonic abilities of driving rhythms, swirling feedback and a simple melodic line to good effect. He also knows how to make all tracks sound fresh and not bind them to one and the same concept. Songs like Venus To Cancer and Eighty Eight rip a page out of Swervedriver's book have that heavy motor-driving type of guitarsound, Wiper builds layer upon layer of guitar a la My Bloody Valentine before closing of with some ambient piano, the same piano that takes Asphalt (Interlude) to a slowed down affair, complete with violin and scratchy guitar. With enough tongue in cheek to call a track The Ramones Book without resorting to 1-2-3-4 Gabba Gabba Hey but coming up with a moodpiece before slowcore-track Local Boy Makes Good delivers on all shoegazing-fronts, Mr. Feerick has delivered a bedroom-produced classic, adult enough to grant him a go in a real studio.