My Collection 1: Acetone 1992-2001
Throughout blogging, I've examined a record in my collection with irregularity, so I'm continuing it here. The examinations are usually hybrid: speaking on the record and speaking on its significance to me (if any, lol). I'll likely repost or even more deeply examine records from before here, but I'll continue to do it alphabetically moving forward, starting with the compilation 1992-2001 from Acetone, an archival release.
Acetone are one of my most recent obsessions. I love slowcore, an oft derided term for a beloved microgenre of slow tempos, jangly guitars, and absolutely depressive songwriting. Acetone are one of the more tragic stories with singer Richie Lee tragically passing away in 2001 just two months before 9/11. Acetone were essential to the sound despite their limited popularity, and found reassessment and love in the 21st century with the advent of the internet, but my discovery was tangential to my interest in the Dick Slessig Combo. Dick Slessig stretched famous songs like taffy into album length meditations on what made them great, and I was especially enamored with their cover of Wichita Lineman, a classic in American music canon.
It becomes evident from second one of 1992-2001 the throughline of Acetone to Dick Slessig. The brushed drums and gentle surf-inspired twang of the guitars of both bands are at the forefront, but the songwriting is much more punchy and to the point in the compilation. For the sake of cohesion, little of their more high-energy, grunge adjacent sound that got them their first record deal with Vernon Yard are on the compilation, to the point of most of the songs being unreleased.
And what a tragedy indeed! Some of the most beautiful moments of fragile forbearance are here. The morose songwriting of the late Lee are better here, down to the stripped down demo of Things are Gonna Be Alright, one of the many highlights. My personal favorite is Shore Power, an instrumental lullaby to get lost in and a perfect showcase of Mark Lightcap's guitar playing that he took to the Dick Slessig Combo. It's all so clear on this lovingly put together compilation that the guitar tones feel like the strings are supports to a sun soaked hammock. A perfect beach bum SoCal soundtrack. I listened to this a lot while reading the engrossing if meandering Hadley Lee Lightcap, a biography of the band, and it was the perfect soundtrack. We'll cover it later, but the entire discography (sans what is unreleased on this and the live album) is available in a career spanning box set.
