(Lester Bangs' Introduction to the Citadel Underground Edition of Gulcher by Richard Meltzer)

Le nouvel album de Gulcher est une bombe. Un son Aston Martin clair, taillé pour tracer comme une balle néo-pop sur les autoroutes lunaires de nos cerveaux. Les basses cristallines crépitent, les guitares adipeuses fondent dans nos oreilles, les caisses claires claquent comme les talons d'une fille sexy dans la nuit. Et les claviers, comme des vagues analogiques, submergent le rivage de nos pavillons, nous faisant flotter dans un épais brouillard béat moite. 

Ces petits bolides de chansons n'hésitent pas à prendre des routes sinueuses. Elles coupent à travers la forêt pour découvrir des sous-bois étouffants, des mangroves marécageuses ou des clairières lumineuses. Mais, comme des chats noirs, les mélodies agiles retombent toujours sur leurs pattes et ne meurent jamais.

Les textes naviguent en eaux troubles eux aussi, racontant des histoires de soirées trop arrosées, de lose quotidienne et d'amours échevelés à grand coup de métaphores scabreuses.  

Cet album inespéré est une claque comme on en prend trop peu de nos jours. Les quatre apprentis Beatles ont réussi une prouesse acrobatique : un grand écart parfait entre pop vintage et post-modernité 2014. Entre Squeeze et the Horrors.  

Un sans faute.  

Gulcher: Post Rock Cultural Pluralism in America (1649-1993) 

The Last Four (4) Digits - The Complete Collection?

Indianapolis' Last Four (4) Digits had one official release, Big Picture EP, and another track on Gulcher's 1981 Red Snerts LP. This comp I threw together features the combined five songs from those two records, and every unreleased recording I could dig up. Pretty sure I got most of it. And unreleased tracks like "Rock And Roll" and their cover of "Mack The Knife" might be better than any of their officially released material. More info from Music Family Tree:

Members: The Last Four (4) Digits - Mike Sheets, John Koss, Richard Worth, Steve Grigdesby, Dave Fulton The Last Four (5) Digits - Dave Fulton, Mike Sheets, Julie Huffacker, Brad Garton, John Koss

About:

Formed in 1982 on the heels of the break up of the Last Four (4) Digits, L5D invented and promoted "abstract commercialism." Taking themes from pop culture, including commercial jingles and TV show themes, the band attracted a rabid following during the eighteen months they were in existence. They completed a tour of the east coast which included successful gigs at CBGB's in Manhattan and Maxwell's in Hoboken, and returned to Indy to headline a punk show at the Vogue nightclub, promoted by Bill Levin. At the time, punk and new wave was virtually unheard of at the Vogue. The event was so noteworthy that local TV stations had reporters providing live coverage of the concert from the sidewalk in front of the nightclub. The next day, the Last Four (5) Digits broke up, only to reunite in part as the even quirkier "We're Jimmy Hoffa" band.

  From Last Days Of Man On Earth, on the Big Picture EP:

I recently drove through Indiana on my way to Ohio and I just don’t get it. How could so many amazing bizarro-punk wave bands have come from the Hoosier State? It just doesn’t seem to be a place conducive to arty experimentation. Then again, punk rock was invented in the Midwest out of boredom so maybe this kind of art-damaged weirdness was also a way of dealing with the endless flatness, both of the people and of the geography. Along with the seminal flatlander weirdness of Dow Jones and The Industrials, Observers Observing Observables, The Dancing Cigarettes, MX-80 Sound, The Social Climbers, Jetsons and Amoebas In Chaos, one would have to add Last Four (4) Digits from Indianapolis, who released this great EP in 1980. The Last Four (4) Digits morphed out of a late ’70s punk band entitled Joint Chiefs of Staff and broke up shortly after the release of this EP. Practitioners of self-coined “abstract commercialism”, they reunited in 1982 as Last Four (5) Digits and had a moderately successful string of shows on the East Coast. The best songs on this EP are the most overtly-experimental, namely Coughing Up Blood and City Streets. Another Sex Crime is very reminiscent to me of Eno-era Roxy Music and Fast Friends is probably the least interesting track. All in all, this is a solid release and yet another reminder that you don’t need to live in the “centre of the universe” to create challenging and entertaining art. This is probably even more true today than it was in 1980. So what are you waiting for?

Tracklisting:

  1. Last Four (4) Digits - Diddy Wah Diddy  

  2. Last Four (4) Digits - Fast Friends  

  3. Last Four (4) Digits - Coughing Up Blood     

  4. Last Four (4) Digits - City Streets        

  5. Last Four (4) Digits - Another Sex Crime      

  6. Last Four (4) Digits - Meet The Parents

  7. Last Five (5) Digits - Liquids 

  8. Last Five (5) Digits - Act Like Nothings Wrong  

  9. Last Five (5) Digits - Babaloo No More   

 10. Last Five (5) Digits - Mack The Knife   

 11. Last Five (5) Digits - I Have Rental Car    

 12. Last Four (5) Digits - Don't Move       

 13. We're Jimmy Hoffa - Travel Song         

 14. We're Jimmy Hoffa - The Counting Song        

 15. We're Jimmy Hoffa - Staying Alive        

 16. We're Jimmy Hoffa - Rock N Roll