Blonder Tongue Audio Baton
| Blonder Tongue Audio Baton | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by Swirlies | ||||
| Released | March 26, 1993 | |||
| Recorded | June 1992 to Nov. 1992 | |||
| Genre | Indie rock, Alternative rock, Shoegaze, lo-fi | |||
| Label | Taang! | |||
| Swirlies chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   link |
| Tiny Mix Tapes |  link |
Blonder Tongue Audio Baton (sometimes spelled Blondertongueaudiobaton) is a 1993 album by Swirlies, released on CD, LP and cassette. The majority of the album was recorded in the summer of 1992 at Q-Division, Boston with engineer/co-producer Rich Costey. It is possibly their best-known and most critically praised work, with many critics citing it as a "lo-fi" answer to My Bloody Valentine's Loveless. Allmusic calls it "a mainstay of early-'90s indie music."
Some tracks from it appeared, in altered form, on the band's 1994 Brokedick Car EP.
The album is named after an obscure and expensive audio graphic equalizer, made from 1959-61 which was used extensively while tracking the album. It was co-lead singer Seana Carmody's last full album with the group, before she formed the Farfisa-driven and somewhat more pop-oriented Syrup USA.
The version of "Park the Car by the Side of the Road" that appears on the record is not actually from the BTAB sessions. Rather, it is a remix (with some re-recorded vocals) of a track released as part of the "Error" single in 1991. A later 8-track version of Trudy (with Anthony DeLuca on drums) was eventually released as part of the Simple Machines Working Holiday 7" series (omitted from the CD release at the band's request, but subsequently issued as a bonus track on the Japanese release of Cats of the Wild Vol. 2). This track would be the last that the band would record with original vocalist Seana Carmody.
Track listing
All tracks by Swirlies
- "Bell (Prelude)" – 0:12
- "Bell" – 4:29
- "Vigilant Always" – 5:10
- "His Love Just Washed Away" – 5:24
- "His Life of Academic Freedom" – 2:07
- "Pancake" – 3:15
- "Jeremy Parker" – 4:14
- "Park the Car by the Side of the Road" – 5:04
- "Tree Chopped Down" – 3:12
- "Wrong Tube" – 5:06
- "Wait Forever" – 4:18
Personnel
Players:
- Andy Bernick – Bass, Radio
- Seana Carmody – Guitar, Vocals, Minimoog, Chamberlin (incorrectly listed in the liner notes as a Mellotron)
- Ben Drucker – Drums (7, 8, 9)
- Kevin March (Dambuilders) – Drums (2,10)
- Mark Rivers aka "Spongey" (Cavedogs) – Drums (3, 4, 6, as well as the out takes for Park the Car and Trudy)
- Damon Tuntunjian – Guitar, Vocals, Casio VL-5, Minimoog, Chamberlin (incorrectly listed in the liner notes as a Mellotron)
Additional noises by:
- Dan - Moth talk recordist
- Ron Rege – Masking tape pull recordist on intro.
- Sentridoh - Moth talk ambient music (oops...)
- Torr - Moth talker
Other credits
- Swirlies – Producer, Mixing, Engineer
- Rich Costey – Engineer, Mixing, Co-Producer
- Kerri Bennet – Artwork, Art Direction, Design
- Ron Rege – Art Direction, Design
- Andy Bernick - Artwork