Dylan Rippon: Needles On Strange Acoustics
With ‘Needles On Strange Acoustics’ there’s an uncompromising dedication to looseness. Opening track ‘Night Fire’ is a swamp-song instrumental right on the edge of town. There’s Brian Jones-style slide playing, kitchen sink percussion, the purity of the single take. Beck’s ‘One Foot In The Grave’ (1994), Stina Nordenstam’s ‘And She Closed Her Eyes’ (1994), Bill Callahan, J. Mascis and Ween are the big contemporary influences. There are also touches of The Stones (‘Rocket In My Soul’), Crosby Stills & Nash (‘Loose Ends’) and Dr. John (‘Night Fire’). In some of the songs Rippon can be heard exploring further afield with his e64 sampler, warping the sound of guitars and pianos into new forms. ‘All Alone Arcturus’ begins with a de-tuned and inverted guitar figure that owes as much in its creation to My Bloody Valentine as it does to Muddy Waters. The album is a collection of recordings made by Dylan Rippon between 1995 and 1997 and most of the Needles recordings were taped onto a Tascam 244 4-track cassette recorder and there’s a unique warmth and presence throughout. Lo-fi to the core – the songs are gloriously naive and juvenile in the best sense of the word.