Seam-Kernel (1993)


 

Artist: Seam

Title: Kernel

Label: Touch and Go

Format: CD EP

Cat #: TG112CD

Year of Release: 1993

Country and Year of Edition Issue: US 1993

Sold Price: $2.99

Listed Condition: VG+ /VG+

Sell Date: 9/26/20

Discogs Last Sold: 7/31/20 $1.95 NM/NM

Low: $1.88

Median: $2.00

High: $6.47

Current low price: $1.89 VG+/VG

Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 5

Have/Want: 161/22

Where Sold: Gaitherburg, MD

Time it took to sell: 9 years

Where and When Bought: Sounds NYC on St Marks used around $4.99 year of release

Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: B

Sad To See It Go?: No

Sooyoung Park of Bitch Magnet fame went on to this lesser band in the 90's.  Nonetheless I bought each and every Seam CD, played it once and filed it away.  I often thought that maybe if I spent more time with Seam, the songs would grow on me the way they did with Park's Bitch Magnet, whose glorious catalog was universally memorable from "Sea of Pearls" on.

That doesn't mean there isn't great music to be found  here.   The false gods, Albini and Slint smile down upon their lesser lights.  Actually, in many ways Seam are superior to Slint, but they never had a Spiderland which defined the math rock genre that laid all math rock to waste including the rest of their thin catalog.

As for Kernel, this came hot on the heels of Headsparks which was on the Homestead label in 1992, the year before Seam moved to Touch and Go for the rest of the 90's.  These 4 tracks are what you'd expect,  some slow ethereal math rock with the patented Park melodic touch.  I played this a month ago, and again tonight while writing this and the title track is the best of the lot.  Perhaps, upon further review this is a bit more "radio ready" than Star Booty and Umber and Ben Hur.  A product of it's age.

Seam did not continue into the aughts.   Park had a couple appearances without vocals: ee in 2002 on guitar and Bored Spies in 2013 on bass.

Maybe he got bored.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bob Dylan-Blood On The Tracks (1975)

Image
  Artist:  Bob Dylan Title: Blood On The Tracks Label: Columbia Format: SACD Cat: CH 90323 Year of Release: 1975 Country and Year of Edition: US 2003 SACD Promo sticker over barcode Sell Price: $12.20 VG+/VG+ 7/15/24 Discogs Last Sold: 7/7/24 NM/VG+ $8.99 Low: $3.00 Median: $11.63 Average: $12.38 High: $27.00 Current low price: $1.99 F/G+, $9.98 VG/VG+ Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 27 Have/Want: 334/242 Where Sold: Ypsilanti, MI Time it took to sell: 11 years Where and When Purchased: promo Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: A+ Sad To See It Go: No "I came in from the wilderness, a creature void of form..." "And when finally the bottom fell out I became withdrawn..." Bob's public precursor to his own divorce has taken a strange turn in the public narrative over the years, whether reflecting domestic tranquility or turbulence.   Beyonc é  might tell you she flips pancakes or boils an egg to Blood On The Tracks on a Sunday morning.  Jakob Dylan might rail that ...
Read more

The Byrds-Live At The Fillmore-February 1969 (2000)

Image
  Artist: The Byrds Title: Live At The Fillmore February 1969 Label: Columbia/Legacy Format: CD Cat #: CK 65910 Year of Release: 2000 Country and Year of Edition Issue: US 2000 Listed Condition VG+/VG+: hole punch in UPC Sell Date: 5/6/24 Sell Price:$3.75 Discogs Last Sold: 4/25/24 $7.87 VG/VG Low: $1.75 Median: $4.24 Average: $4.28 High: $7.87 Current low price: $2.50 Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 30 Have/Want: 524/45 Where Sold:Charlotte, NC Time it took to sell: 12 years Where and When Bought: early aughts not sure where in NYC Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: A- Sad To See It Go: No One of those releases that looks great on a shelf, but it took me 24 years after buying it to get around to paying any attention to this excellent live recording.  I guess that means I should force myself to read David Fricke's liner notes as well.  Sweetheart Of The Rodeo came out August 30, 1968 only 8 months after The Notorious Byrd Brothers and Dr. Byrds and Mr. Hyde came out a week before ...
Read more

Bob Dylan-Bob Dylan (1962)

Image
  Artist: Bob Dylan Title: Bob Dylan Label: Columbia Format: LP Cat #: PC 8579 Year of Release: 1962 Country and Year of Edition Issue: US 1970's reissue Listed Condition VG/VG+ Sell Date: 5/2/24 Sell Price:$8.93 Discogs Last Sold: 3/5/24 NM/VG+ $9.00 Low: $3.98 M/VG+ Median: $12.49 Average: $12.81 High: $24.99 M/NM Current low price: $12.00 Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 16 Have/Want: 285/176 Where Sold: Minneapolis, MN Time it took to sell: 9 years Where and When Bought: Worcester used That's Entertainment mid 80's Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: A Sad To See It Go: No "You're No Good!" the 3 year old Reverse Collector proclaimed to his mother.  "David! That's an awful thing to say!  Go to your room!"  I was just saying what was on the cover of the Bob Dylan song list on the album I had.  I was a fluent reader by age 3, as opposed to simply memorizing text my parents read to me when I was 2.  I understood the concept of "Good" and "Ba...
Read more