Edie Sedgwick
First Reflections
Mud Memory/Dischord
Never thought I’d say this, but it seems someone’s actually taking The Minutemen’s agit-prop minimalist funk far too seriously. Recent evidence: Edie Sedgwick’s First Reflections. With a two-part/13-point manifesto in tow, the duo’s debut displays a penchant for taut point/counterpoint, quivery/jittery vocalist Justin Moyer’s basslines bubbling up, over, and around drummer Ryan Hicks’ sometimes-straightforward/sometimes-skittering rhythms, the record’s songs abstractly skimming over the lives of a myriad of celluloid celebrities (chronologically, “Faye Dunaway” to the band’s namesake), no less • say, something like The Fall doing a concept record about the history of shoulder pads or deli trays. Yeah, weird. Stripped-down to say the very, very least, First Reflections can be acutely compelling at times, absolutely alienating at others, its 13 tracks in 26 minutes being the, um, “ideal” template for taut couture of such a bygone variety. Damn well know I should totally dig this, but somehow I’m not on board. No(w)-wave, anyone?
Mud Memory, 1654 Monroe St. NW, Washington, DC 20010; http://www.mudmemory.com
