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AFTER 001CD
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"In one of the most unlikely reunions of recent years, seminal Milwaukee noise group Boy Dirt Car announces the release of its first new recordings since 1988. Spoken Answer To A Silent Question brings together several original members -- co-founder Darren Brown, Keith Brammer and Dan Kubinski (Die Kreuzen), T.S. Wahlen and Dave Szolwinski -- and, consistent with Boy Dirt Car's classic revolving-door lineup, brings in several newcomers, including longtime Milwaukee mainstays Peder Hedman, Karl Paloucek and Jeff Hamilton. For much of the 1980s, Milwaukee was home to Boy Dirt Car's brooding sound. Influenced as much by Wisconsin's brutal winters and the dark tales of its North Woods as by any of their avant garde contemporaries, the group forged a sound different from other so-called 'industrial' bands of the day. As one reviewer once put it, 'Boy Dirt Car creates a sound not like being in a car crash, but of being under one.' Just as it cadged its industrial instrumentation from scrapyards and roadsides, BDC culled its members from across Milwaukee's vibrant music scene of the time, building up an intense following and a reputation as one of the city's most potentially hazardous acts. At the same time, the group recorded numerous (now-legendary) cassettes and LPs which, while escaping the ears of Rolling Stone, garnered them coverage in The Wall Street Journal, and -- even more unlikely -- from late advice columnist Ann Landers."
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LEXDEV 009CD
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Originally issued by Lexicon Devil in 2003. Milwaukee's Boy Dirt Car were their good city's preeminent punk-noise-industrial outfit who roamed the state and country from roughly 1981 'til 1989. Formed by the disgruntled duo of Eric Lunde and Darren Brown after being inspired by a local cacophonous Glen Branca gig, they decided to gather a group of fellow miscreants from the Milwaukee punk scene with a mission to create a truly inspired, ungodly, riot-inducing racket. Roping in, amongst others, Dan Kubinski and Keith Brammer from local hardcore kings, Die Kreuzen, they formed Boy Dirt Car. With a sound approximating some sort of bizarre stew of Throbbing Gristle, early Sonic Youth, Birthday Party, AMM and Einsterzunde Neubauten, they set about documenting themselves through a slew of self-released cassettes. Playing the circuit with everyone from Fred Frith to Flipper to Shockabilly to Screamin' Jay Hawkins(!), BDC caught the ear of noise aficionado, Ron Lessard, of the famed RRR label out of Massachusetts, who released the 1986 split LP with fellow Milwaukee space-rockers, F/i. Winning praise from the hipsters and running through a few pressings for its troubles, the band went and did it again in 1987 with their debut full-length, Winter. Both of these have been out-of-print for almost 15 years and never been given the CD treatment, until now. So why bother with Boy Dirt Car? For the simple reason that they are one of the great missing links in '80s U.S. punk-noise underground culture. Listening to the CD is like revisiting a time in history that really drew a line in the sand: are you with us or not? It was a time when "getting in the van" was all a "challenging band" could do to survive; a time when Whitehouse and Black Flag were one and the same; a time when "industrial" meant more than some New Romantic reject churning out z-grade speed-metal riffs with a drum machine. It's all part of a link to a puzzle, and Boy Dirt Car, as obscure as they may seem, were truly one of those great links that need reinvestigating. "...Boy Dirt (Car) share a member w/Die Kreuzen, are all pals w/Steve Albini and are often referred to as America's Einstug. That's not the most accurate thing in the world, but they are damage of an industrial nature and they don't suck. Not at all." --review of the BDC/F/i split LP, Forced Exposure, Winter 1987
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LEXDEV 003CD
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Originally issued in 2001 by Lexicon Devil. Boy Dirt Car may hardly be a household name in the world of pop, but for noise aficionados worldwide, those three words conjure up visions and dreams of a time when the words "noise" and "industrial" really meant something. Starting out in Milwaukee in '81 with the duo of Eric Lunde and Darren Brown, they eventually settled into a semi-stable quartet line-up that also featured Dan Kubinski and Keith Brammer of local hardcore kings, Die Kreuzen. With a string of albums on the RRR label (there's also a boxed set in there) and even an appearance on the seminal Sub Pop 100 LP, BDC made their stamp in the underground, but then sadly called it quits in the late '80s, while individual members pursued other projects. Amidst this mess and turmoil lay Heatrig, their swan song and finest moment, left unreleased until now. The BDC "sound" is not easy to pin down. There are some graspable elements in place: the metal-banging clang of Neubauten, the drones and scrapes of Nurse With Wound or early SPK and the uncategorizable "rock" stew that made Die Kreuzen such a fine band in their day, though mainly BDC remain BDC. Forever and always.
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