October 11, 2023

Still Lips - I'm No Dummy

 

Before the mysterious stage presence of Daft Punk, there was the furry inspired artistry of 80’s folk rockers, Still Lips.

 

After failing for 8 years to complete his Puppetry and Ventriloquy degree at the University of West Virginia, Darryl Diamond joined forces with friends and fellow drop-outs, Robert Chestnut, Christopher Phillips and eclectic drummer, Barnaby Babbish.  The group started tearing up campus venues throughout Morgantown.  Aside from front man, Darryl, the band would perform donning their trademark furry costumes.  Rumor had it that Chestnut, Phillips and Babbish may have had their faces terribly disfigured in a freak incident involving an Ostrich.

 

Though the group was picking up steam, and charted locally with their soulful rock anthem, “Labial Cosmonaut”, tensions between Diamond and Chestnut over songwriting credut ultimately lead to the group disbanding after just one album; now they are relegated to trailblazers in footnote form only.

 

 

September 11, 2023

Hopscotch Pickens - You Talk'n to Me?

 

The internal pain and suffering of the thankless blues man are apparent throughout this entire masterpiece from Casper, Wyoming.  Blues was on the low end of priorities during the techno-pop fair of 1984 when this self-release started circulating in the vinyl record underground.  Hopscotch moans, croaks and wheezes his grievances with aching beauty in poetic gems, “Painted Toenail Persecution” and “Drug by the Collar.”  By the end of the album, the tone turns into a gutteral growl of societal disgust in the album’s namesake track and the often overlooked dancing diatribe, “Under my Till.”

 

The complicated tonal structure show a departure from earlier efforts and signal a musical exploration that makes this album the turning point in a cannon that grows more and more abstract, but the brilliance of the songs and lyrics on this album make it the quintessential Hopscotch Pickens album.

 

 

October 11, 2023

Still Lips:

I'm No Dummy

 

​Before the mysterious stage presence of Daft Punk, there was the furry inspired artistry of 80’s folk rockers, Still Lips.

 

After failing for 8 years to complete his Puppetry and Ventriloquy degree at the University of West Virginia, Darryl Diamond joined forces with friends and fellow drop-outs, Robert Chestnut, Christopher Phillips and eclectic drummer, Barnaby Babbish.  The group started tearing up campus venues throughout Morgantown.  Aside from front man, Darryl, the band would perform donning their trademark furry costumes.  Rumor had it that Chestnut, Phillips and Babbish may have had their faces terribly disfigured in a freak incident involving an Ostrich.

 

Though the group was picking up steam, and charted locally with their soulful rock anthem, “Labial Cosmonaut”, tensions between Diamond and Chestnut over songwriting credut ultimately lead to the group disbanding after just one album; now they are relegated to trailblazers in footnote form only.

 

 

September 11, 2023

Hopscotch Pickens:

You Talk'n to Me?

The internal pain and suffering of the thankless blues man are apparent throughout this entire masterpiece from Casper, Wyoming.  Blues was on the low end of priorities during the techno-pop fair of 1984 when this self-release started circulating in the vinyl record underground.  Hopscotch moans, croaks and wheezes his grievances with aching beauty in poetic gems, “Painted Toenail Persecution” and “Drug by the Collar.”  By the end of the album, the tone turns into a gutteral growl of societal disgust in the album’s namesake track and the often overlooked dancing diatribe, “Under my Till.”

The complicated tonal structure show a departure from earlier efforts and signal a musical exploration that makes this album the turning point in a cannon that grows more and more abstract, but the brilliance of the songs and lyrics on this album make it the quintessential Hopscotch Pickens album.