Record collector nerds rejoice: Fluid Waffle is easy to find on vinyl
Record shopping, especially used record shopping, is one of my favourite hobbies. I have spent countless hours sifting through mounds of garbage to get at the hidden gold; the needle in the haystack that makes all those hours feel worthwhile. The satisfaction of buying an LP by a band you don’t know a thing about (the blind-buy), dropping the needle and finding out it’s awesome is pleasurable beyond measure. This column will feature some cool pieces of vinyl (and some disappointing ones) I and others have stumbled on over the years that we feel deserve a wider audience. Enjoy!
Wax Artifacts #1: Fluid Waffle – Fluid Waffle (1987)
I thought it would be fun to begin this series with a Canadian release. I blind-bought this for $3 at Tramp’s in downtown Saskatoon in the fall of 2012. Turns out this band would go on to become Furnaceface, an Ottawa band with whom some readers may be more familiar. (Editor’s Note – Google the video for “If You Love Her, Buy Her a Gun”). I’ve never been able to find any more information on them other than the fact that they reunited not long ago. This ugly trend of bands reuniting is getting tiresome in my mind, but that’s another topic of conversation.
As for the record itself, I was drawn to it by the album artwork, which features a 1950s photo of a woman with her head in her hands gazing over a parking lot from a building above. The band’s name is stamped in the upper lefthand corner of the cover. I liked it, so threw it on the stack of records I was already buying, and went home to check it out.
The first song caused me to prickle slightly. It is obnoxiously “college rock” and needlessly includes accent instruments like harmonica, which make the band sound corny as hell. However, other tracks on the album send out some pretty interesting post-punk vibes. Truthfully, I initially felt the album lacked cohesiveness and bounced around too much stylistically, but after listening to it again before writing this post, I retract the statement. There is some serious darkness going on in these songs that draw in perverse curiosity, and the feeling is consistent through the entire album.
For $3, this was a fun purchase, but not something I throw on the turntable too often. It needs to grow on me a bit more. Included below is one of the better songs on the LP . I’ve noticed a few copies of this record around Saskatoon since buying it, so if someone is really diggin’ on this, they should have no problem finding it for cheap.
– Flyer image borrowed from http://canadapunkrock.wordpress.com/