Royal Trux

***CHECK STOCK!!! Received an 8.0 rating from Pitchfork. REISSUED!!! 1998, and according to the press, ROYAL TRUX were back in action. The Virgin era, regarded as a wilderness period by some, were brought to a definitive close with the release of Accelerator back on Drag City and Domino in April of that year. Unbeknownst to their former handlers at the major label, the combination of wack-ass knob twisting and crowd-pleasing singalongs reflected some absurdly inverted sense of What People Wanted, and reaction to Accelerator was loud and fevered. A European tour was required ASAP, and a band was quickly assembled. Several slots were filled with Drag City players: AERIAL-M’s DAVID PAJO (also late of SLINT, TORTOISE and STEREOLAB) on bass, and Drag City utility man RIAN MURPHY drafted in to sing and play tambourine. The X-factor was drummer JON THEODORE. Recruited from the Oberlin, OH group GOLDEN, he brought incredible chops into play, but his bright sound and personality would be dealt with in typically Darwinian Trux fashion. 
In advance of the tour, several domestic shows were scheduled, and the players arrived at Royal Trux’s rural Virginia ranch ready to rehearse, only to be told that a recording session was the first order of business. Given the powerful response to Accelerator, an EP would be needed soon—and with a long European tour impending, what better time than the present? In short order, the three songs were recorded, along with a fourth, a cover of Dire Straits’ “Money For Nothing” which was set aside to be used as a B-side for a planned UK single release. The songs were a funky bunch—“Deafer Than Blind” was a sweet ‘n’ sour ballad built off a drum loop, “Run, Shaker Life” was a Richie Havens cover with spiritual overtones and “The United States of America vs. One 1974 Cadillac El Dorodo,” was a proggy group jam that featured an extensive libretto and comprised one of the longest Royal Trux song yet. The static-crisp high end of Accelerator was abandoned in favor of a smeared, bottom-heavy sound, showcasing the thunder in the stomping rhythm section and a darker tone in NEIL HAGERTY’s bent-neck histrionics. This was something that one might almost regard as straight-up rock in Royal Trux terms, and Neil and JENNIFER harmonized in their own unique way throughout the record. (STREET DATE - 6/18/2013)