Archers Of Loaf - IckyMettle

Wed 6th Apr, 2005 in Music Reviews

You can listen to any Archers Of Loaf album and you know that it’s an Archers Of Loaf album. Regardless of the direction they took, and they weren’t afraid to go off on a tangent, each album was undeniably an Archers album. From Icky Meetle through to White Trash Heroes, there was always a constant. So what was it?

The easy answer could be Eric Bachmann’s voice I guess, but even he concedes that vocally, he changed along the way especially for White Trash Heroes. Hectic, skewed guitars? Maybe. Or was it the often-cryptic lyrics? Bachmann has stated that they are supposed to mean many things in order to keep it simple; no wrong answers. What Web In Front means to me, differs immensely from the views expressed by a few of my friends. It’s many things to many people and, maybe that is the constant.

Everyone knows the 1-2-3-4-1 count in on the frame of the snare, before Bachmann bleats:

“Stuck a pin in your backbone
Spoke it down from there.
All I ever wanted was to be your spine…”

This verse is arguably, to a certain demographic anyway, one of the most famous ever written. With the typical twisted guitar work throughout, at times you might wonder where it is going to go, and you are left wondering well past the closing tracks, Backwash and Slowworm. It sounds as though someone has introduced a corkscrew to the musical toolbox, and it sounds unbelievable. I can only wonder what guitar tunings these guys must use.

The off-kilter, melodically challenging guitar continues for Last Word and Wrong. Bachman vents his anger heavily throughout while Eric Johnson continues to make ‘what the f**k?’ noises with his axe.

You and Me, Fat and Toast are specials. They put those weights in your heart and stomach and make them sink and ache. From the quiet beginnings where a “woe is me” Bachmann, almost mumbles through the opening line from You and Me and Toast, to the spleen ripping vocal delivery of Fat, the chaotic guitars continue to work seamlessly, as they do on every track.

Toast should be a classic for the title alone, not to mention the sonic barrage that accompanies it.

Again, in Learo, You’re A Hole, you’re dragged head first through some scathing stuff. The opening rhythm section provided by Mark Price on drums and Matt Gentling on bass, steadily builds with a light guitar line and vocal before the aural onslaught of whining, droning guitars kicks in. At times, the guitars sound almost psychedelic, the song finishing in a crescendo of sonic delight, before jumping straight into the same pot with Sick File. Ear bleeding stuff and not for the faint hearted.

Remaining tracks Might, Hate Paste and Plumb Line are no less impressive in their auditory capacities and continue to deliver with the serrated guitars. The almost folk-like Hate Paste and the arguably laid back Plumb Line just add to an already diverse collection.

Chapel Hill in North Carolina did us some musical favours, namely Superchunk, Polvo and Archers Of Loaf. Thinking of those three bands together, same town around the same period, I can only think that there was definitely something in the water.

So what was that constant? I don’t really know, it just seems to work, whatever it is.

”...their fragmented poetry fits the cut-and-paste of the noisy music.”  (Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide)

Yes, it certainly does.