Abecedarians >> I've waited for one thousand years to die

California Month, tremor #15:

Abecedarians - "Soil" (early version)

(Independent Project Records, 1983, '84, or '85)

Trying to come up with a genre to describe this spidery song is next to impossible.  Psychedelic post-goth?  Stoner dream-punk?  Proto-shoegaze krautrock?  The jazzy drumming becomes almost industrial, especially contrasted with the abstract, liquid guitar lines played above it.

This song is taken from the posthumous compilation The Other Side Of The Fence (1983-85), released only on double 10" vinyl (some copies on black wax, some on yellow), numbered, with strikingly desolate cover art that suits the music perfectly:

Those are Phoenix dactylifera palms (Date Palms), a.k.a. my favorite plant in the world, presumably in situ in the Middle East / N. Africa

It consists of recordings that predate their impressive 1986 debut album Eureka.  Despite the song's languid tempo, the opening line is pretty intense: "Seeping from soil, the juices of lust that once held me at bay."  Does it refer to water, blood, or uh... something else?  (Huh-huh...)  This song is a treble lover's dream, and the stereo separation in the mixing job (done in 1990) is really impressive.  Abecedarians were a relatively unknown group from Los Angeles by way of Orange County, active from about 1983-90.  I just discovered this band a few years ago.  Chris Manecke handled the vocal and guitar assignments, Kevin Dolan thrust his sticks upon the drums, and John Blake strummed on his bass guitar.

In L.A., even the cacti are paparazzi.  (From the booklet of their great compilation CD, cleverly titled AB-CD.)

I was stunned to discover earlier this year that the Abs had a music video for this song, and it remains one of my favorite YouTube discoveries.  It's the re-recorded 1986 Eureka version:

The Eureka version of "Soil" is almost a minute longer than the one I'm posting, and is a little smoother.  It goes without saying that both versions are amazing.  The history of the band's first album is confusing.  Eureka was put out by a micro indie called Southwest Audio Reproductions with two different cover designs, then reissued by Caroline Records in 1987 with an entirely new cover (consisting of blocks of mini permutations of the original covers) and one different song.  See info on all three versions here.  All three versions sell for large sums on eBay, so I have no hopes of ever owning one; an eBayer named shugarecords is actually trying to sell one for $3,000 right now.  Eureka indeed...

Planets with similar climates: Gang Of Four - "The History Of The World" (1982), Poem Rocket - "Bataille" (1997), Section 25 - "New Horizon" (1981), For Against - "Echelons" (1987), New Fast Automatic Daffodils - "Music" (1992), The Durutti Column - "Never Known" (1981), Sonic Youth - "I Dreamed I Dream" (1982).