catalogue

KROL, MIKE

TURKEY (MERGE)

KROL, MIKE - TURKEY 87154
format:
1 CD
release:
04.09.2015
label:
MERGE
item ID:
87154
barcode:
0673855053929
In bowling's hallowed alleys, a strike is the minor miracle of all ten pins falling at once. Back-to-back strikes make a double.

Do it a third time and you've got yourself a turkey. History will decide which sports metaphor to apply to Mike Krol's first two records, I Hate Jazz (2011) and Trust Fund (2013).

But as needle meets groove on Turkey - Krol's first record for Merge - there is no ambiguity.

A shiny black ball tumbles past the suburban strip malls of a polyestered Wisconsin and veers precariously close to an East Coast gutter before gathering momentum in a physics-defying sprint for the Pacific.

California is where the headpin falls - the right velocity, the perfect geometry, the bowler's intent beautifully realized in a noisy moment of awesome destruction.

Mike Krol got his bike stolen and his heart broken. He bailed on graphic-design-as-career.

He kept playing drums and guitars, and he kept writing songs about the stuff he hated and the stuff he loved.

Leaving Milwaukee for Los Angeles, he took a few years' worth of wrong turns. But when he showed up at a studio in Sacramento in March 2014, he had his affairs in order.

Plug the vocal mic into a guitar amp. Plug the guitar into an overheating box of vacuum tubes.

Put the computer in the closet. Roll the tape.
 
  • Tracklisting
  • 1.1. SUBURBAN WASTELAND
  • 1.2. NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH
  • 1.3. LEFT OUT (ATTN: SOCAL GARAGE ROCKERS)
  • 1.4. SAVE THE DATE
  • 1.5. THIS IS THE NEWS
  • 1.6. LA LA LA
  • 1.7. CACTUSES
  • 1.8. LESS THAN TOGETHER
  • 1.9. PIANO SHIT