WTF?! Wednesdays: Eugene Chadbourne, “Electric Rake” (2005)

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My introduction to guitarist/raconteur/wise ass Eugene Chadbourne came out of a short stack of records borrowed from a co-worker. This would have been back in the early 90s. There were things like Dinosaur Jr., Sebadoh, and Henry Kaiser in that pile. I can’t even remember what Chadbourne record it was except the say that it seemed like country music of a sort, but with whiny vocals and exceptionally fucked up guitar.

If all you’ve ever heard is Chadbourne playing crazed, psychotic pseudo-country (which oddly enough, seems more legit than today’s pseudo-country), you might get the idea that he doesn’t really know what he’s doing, that he’s a novelty act. His resume says otherwise as it includes the likes of John Zorn, Fred Frith, and Camper Van Beethoven.

Of course, I’ve selected something which exhibits nothing so much as his propensity for making insane noise, with a totally unsuspecting rake being drafted for service. Even funnier than this noise freakout is the comment on YouTube making the statement that Chadbourne is “not taking any care with thematic development.”

Dude, it’s a fucking rake!!!

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Mark Saleski