Wolfington, John

Wolfington, John

American Dreamsicle

Smells Like Records

Shortly after the 2001 release of his eponymous debut, John Wolfington took a break from New York City and made a trip cross-country in his 1982 Buick LeSabre. He stopped in Nashville and Memphis, broke down in Tucumcari, New Mexico, and even dipped down to Nuevo Laredo, Mexico before spending some time setting up a home life in Los Angeles. Heavily influenced by his time on the West Coast and his eventual return to NYC again in 2005, the ten songs on American Dreamsicle reflect Wolfington’s experiences shortly before and during that trip and are sequenced chronologically from 2001 to 2006.  As on Wolfington’s previous full-length, Steve Shelley (of Sonic Youth) and Tim Foljahn (of Two Dollar Guitar) contribute drums and bass to the bulk of this album. Recorded at New York’s Magic Shop with Brian Thorn, American Dream-sicle shimmers with a more direct sound à la Plastic Ono Band and After the Gold Rush-era Neil Young.  The American Dreamsicle double-LP in a gatefold package includes Wolfington’s self-titled debut LP as a bonus platter.

Wolfington, John

S/t

Smells Like Records

Riding a subway train circa '97, Colombian-born John Wolfington inexplicably decided to switch cars at the 14th Street station, to one in which Thurston Moore happened to be sitting, deep into a novel. At the time Wolfington had in his possession a tape containing "Coney Island Freak," a song of his that talks about a trip to the freakshow and references SY in its lyric. Feeling like he had somehow been "urged" to switch cars, he handed the tape to Thurston, who politely accepted it, just like he always does every other day of the week when a complete stranger hands him a tape. Although this encounter had little to do with the recording of this album, it now seems like it was a step along the way.  Summer of '99, and Two Dollar Guitar man Tim Foljahn has a five-song demo in his hand, sent to him by someone he'd never heard of. Still, he was floored by the quality of the songs and the sparseness of the production. Most of the material had been recorded in Wolfington's bathroom, using simple drum machine patterns or brushes on a live drum. Foljahn passed the tape on to Steve Shelley, and the two of them agreed to work with Wolfington on recording his debut. Production, begun at Hoboken's Jolly Roger Recording with Gene Holder and finished at Brooklyn's Rare Book Room with Nicolas Vernhes, took place over the following six months. Shelley and Foljahn play on over half the songs,...