BANDS:

Punk & Ska
80's New Wave/
Post-Punk/
College Bands

90's & Beyond
Virginia, North
Carolina, & DC

INTERESTS:

Venues
Publications
Record Stores
Radio
Record Labels
Album Reviews
Live Gig Reviews
Past Features
Links

ETC...

About LOTD
Contact/Staff
Submit Music
Advertise
Home

Velcro Mary

 

The Capstan Shafts: Sea Cull Rebellion / Hope Gets Wheels
[self-released]

NO
COVER ART
AVAILABLE

Lo-fi recording is to rock and roll as Byzantine Iconography is to modern advertising.  Elements of the former are represented in the latter if only in minor degrees.  A better comparison might be that lo-fi recording is the pulsating, breathing core of rockor at least it can be.  Some lo-fi records are just boring, pointless exercises, not unlike some Byzantine Iconography.  At its best, DIY rock cuts off the fat and leaves only the meat.  This is definitely the case with Captan Shafts, a one man pop machine who obviously studied at the Guided by Voices school of advanced home recording and song-writing.

Ill go you one better too, Captan Shafts is much better than GBV.  The songs are tighter, more focused yet still infused with the fragile, delicate soul of chaos that makes it seem as though the whole damn thing is going to fall apart at any minute.  The songs are whimsical without being silly, catchy without being vacuous and touching without being melodramatic.   All in all, if you can get your hands on these short little nuggets of heaven (each CD has only six short songs) youll thank me in the morning. 

-John Thrasher
3/21/05

More Album Reviews

About LOTD        Contact/Staff        Advertise        Home

All content  © LEFT OFF THE DIAL 2001-2005. All rights reserved.