Alison Ranger - self titled cd

If you aren't familiar with the excellent Alison Ranger, I should refer you to their Last fm page for all of the JUICY DEETS, as what's written there is better than anything I could provide for you, my dear reader;

"Alison Ranger formed in August, 1999 in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Despite claiming West Chester as a home town, Alison Ranger's members lived in such disparate states as Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. For the next five years, after many shows, two tours, some line-up switches, and a few collections of recorded material, the band broke up in August, 2004."


On this self-titled, self-released debut, Alison Ranger deliver up some inspired, busy, and emotive hardcore punk with tight drumming, vocals that alternated between high pitched screaming and the "yelled" variety, and (most notably) keyboards by someone who sure as shit knew how to play them. True, the keys aren't going to be for everyone, but if you're open minded enough to dig on some pretty original and energetic hc and, say, Bruce fuckin' Hornsby...well then I've got some shit you should hear.

My first and only encounter with these dudes occurred in January of 2001, when bass player Sandro Braidotti booked a show for one of my old bands at the completely awesome Wild Child Cafe in Wilmington, Delaware*. Not only was Sandro an all around nice guy, but his band rocked my balls off when we played with them that night. For me, that was one of the more memorable shows I ever played with that band, and I definitely consider myself lucky to have crossed paths with Alison Ranger. We had some serious van trouble on the way down to Wilmington and arrived stressed the fuck out (because that show was the first of three in a weekend road trip). However, once we got there, the friendliness of the folks in this band really helped me to settle down and quickly brought me back into a good mood.

These six jams were recorded at the prolific Clay Creek Studios with Nick Rotundo on August 8th and 9th, 2000. Peep it, 'cause it is indeed quite good. Alison Ranger to this day remain the only hardcore band from West Chester, Pennsylvania I've ever heard.

* A quick search through a box in my basement didn't turn up the flyer I still have for this show, but it's definitely down there somewhere.

Tracklist:
1) Wing Commander
2) Soap Factory
3) Who Has The Six-Top?
4) Pralines And Dick
5) Painter's Crossing In The Time Of Lope de Vega
6) Double-Blind

- choose where your shadow is cast -