Friday, September 21, 2012

The Past - Imperfect (2000)


The Past were a mostly instrumental and entirely arty trio from Everett, two-thirds of which went on to form Display. With their giant Sunn amp cabinets and arsenal of vintage effects pedals, Jim Paschall and Jeremy Cooper unleashed waves of moody Sonic Youth and Krautrock-inspired riffs over Matt McLemore's spare but highly specific (and a bit funky, in a DJ Shadow sort of way) motorik drumming. One of my favorite memories of any show I've ever been to was at a house where The Past opened for FCS North. When their final song ("Agneta") ended, Jeremy tapped on his Echoplex, which then replayed his entire guitar part from the beginning. He and Jim peeled back the grillcloth of their amps, shoved their instruments completely inside, and as effects filtered feedback accompanied the ghost guitar, the band joined the crowd in watching the end of their set. Fantastic.
After a couple years and one short tape, they released this full-length self-released CD-R.  It was limited to 100, but I think only a few dozen were actually made, as they broke up just they put this out (my copy is number 1, by the way). I also have their cassette ep and a live video, both of which I intend to transfer soon, but keep encountering uncooperative equipment.

Download the full album with scans here.

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