[$5 // https://prettyallright.bandcamp.com/album/amorphous-tabernacle-of-mildew]
When I was a kid I was really into baseball and as I got into my later teens I began to stop really paying as much attention to it. It was around the time that I began sort of drifting away from it that they had their expansion which saw the births of the Colorado Rockies and the Florida Marlins, who now play as the Miami Marlins. So whenever I see the word "Marlin" it always makes me think of a baseball team that really shouldn't be in existence because what have they (or the Rockies for that matter) done since their formation? And, yes, since that time two more teams have joined the ranks just further diluting the player pool and making for an all around lesser quality of the game.
The music of Moody Marlin begins with electronics and rock. You can tell right away that it isn't going to be an electronica cassette because of the way that the rock seems to be there and want to take over from the start. It sounds like banjos and video games and, no, I don't really have a better way to describe what is going on but it does remind me of Beck in the sense "How did he just do what he just did?" back when I first heard him. Static bursts and trap drums can be heard as we also have some slight chanting type vocals as well. I've heard a lot of radio frequencies used in music and this is the first time though that I've heard them used in loops that make them sound like pop. The tones build up like we're climbing a mountain or at least that mountain climber guy from "The Price Is Right" and then we turn into a slow funk sound.
Through a walking down the street pace there is singing and a general feeling of the blues. This turns into a bonkers surf type of sound with vocals coming through but more so in "bowwowwow" type of progressions than actual words (Though a few words do manage to slip out here and there). Zeppelin riffs come out with a cowbell and as we near the end of Side A we have someone talking about Colorado and I'm not really one for conspiracy theories or anything but isn't it odd that the name Moody Marlin makes me think of the baseball team and now we're talking about the other city to get a team at the same time? Perhaps it is just coincidental.
Side B opens with some funk and beats. There are horns and record scratches which bring this somewhere between a George Clinton performance and a DJ set. The beats sound like something particularly good for the cassette, which I often like to refer to as the NKOTB beats, and so I'm really into that as well. Sad jazz horns come in next and the singing comes out and I'm beginning to hear some Tom Waits in this though it doesn't quite have the bass in the vocals that he does. The words become almost spoken in their delivery and it reminds me of Everlast when he says things like "I'll go one way you go the other". Fun Fact: I owned House of Pain's "Jump Around" on cassingle but never the full album. I also played the hell out of Everlast's "Whitey Ford Sings The Blues" when it came out (on CD though).
The singing becomes more structured now with wah-wah type of guitar riffs and all I can think about as this cassette comes to an end is The James Gang. While I can 100% say that I never used this unique combination of comparisons within the same review before I can also say with almost as much certainty that I've probably not even used similar artists or sounds mixed in this way together before. This provides for a one of a kind listening experience with Moody Marlin that only progresses naturally and like the flower blooming should be witnessed when possible.
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