I first heard about Last Splash when I was a kid, looking at various album covers in CD catalogues that I like to read out of. However, I knew nothing about the Breeders at that time. The Breeders are an alternative/indie rock group formed by two twin sisters, Kim Deal and Kelley Deal. Kim Deal was the former bassist of a group called Pixies. That’s pretty much all I know about them now. However, their magnum opus, 1993’s Last Splash, looks to be a rather interesting album by indie rock standards! I mean, the psychedelic cover art sure looks promising enough. Right now, I’m going to listen to the full album on YouTube first as I’m going to type a review of each of this album’s songs, and then maybe if it is good, I might buy it, perhaps on iTunes, where I like to get most of my music quicker. That’s a rule for me when I buy new albums, to listen to it online before thinking about it to see if the album or any of its songs are any good.
Here are the reviews of the album’s songs, in order:
“New Year”-Distorted guitar and some feedback open the song. A slow drumbeat envelops with atmospheric guitar. The drumbeat gets faster and the song starts to go a more punk approach. More feedback appears throughout parts of the song. The vocals reminds me of Blondie’s lead singer, but with a more cool attitude.
“Cannonball”-Begins with an electronically distorted voice and wordless vocal loop with some electric noises. Clicking percussion appears along with bass and rather jazzy drums. A bluesy guitar shows up, sounding like the style of guitar playing you hear in the Hampton Grease Band’s music, but then it develops into a distorted punk guitar that is followed by some distorted telephone signal sound effects (that’s what it sounds like). The vocals in the chorus sounds like they were recorded through a telephone, similar to the vocal styles of Rhode Island noise freaks Lightning Bolt. The same HGB-style guitar appears in several more parts. The song ends by cutting off abruptly and into the next track.
“Invisible Man”-Starts off with distorted, almost grungy guitar with vocals, drums and bass. Maybe Kim Deal was trying to channel Kurt Cobain with that style of guitar playing? The lyrics reminds me of what Nico sang in the song “I’ll Be Your Mirror” from the Velvet Underground’s 1967 debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico. A distorted, but much more clean guitar solo comes. The track ends with some wind chimes, treated with effects, making the ending seem more like ambient music in the process.
“No Aloha”-Begins with vocals and ethereal, Hawaiian-sounding slide guitar, dueling with distorted guitar. A drumbeat develops as the track develops a more punk edge, with the Hawaiian guitar still being played. In fact, Kim Deal was inspired to write the song after she went into the women’s restroom of the recording studio and saw graffiti written on the wall that says “Motherhood means mental freeze”.
“Roi”-An experimental piece that starts off with distorted guitar and bass. A drumbeat develops with distorted noises. The guitars begin to experiment a little. Next comes an avant-garde section where you hear what sounds like a scraping violin or cello and strange electronic noises coming from a Minimoog (the credits for the album states that this track also uses a Casiotone keyboard). That particular moment in this song reminds me of the first of the two closing pieces off of the Residents’ 1971 demo tape The Warner Bros. Album. The guitars and bass get a little atmospheric, kinda like the Hampton Grease Band song “Lawton”. The guitars start to get that punk edge again. I also hear a little squawk of feedback, and later you hear speed chords and amp noises. Vocals appear again. The track ends with a rather fuzzy chord.
“Do You Love Me Now?”-Starts off with processed vocals with bass and drone effects. A slow drumbeat develops with more conventional guitar work. This goes on for most of the song, before leading to a fuzzy, experimental guitar jam with feedback, which reminds me of some of the fuzzy psychedelic guitar stuff you can find in the 70’s and 80’s work of the South Korean group Sanullim (Mountain Echo). The conventional structure starts again, ending with a quasi-choir vocal with a fuzzy chord.
“Flipside”-A light, plucky guitar melody eventually becomes a rather hardcore-sounding jam that reminds me of stuff from Minutemen. Shockingly enough, this track is an instrumental.
“I Just Wanna Get Along”-A punk melody appears with vocals. Guitars get a little fuzzy with feedback. The drums also get a bit loud by the end.
“Mad Lucas”-Another experimental piece that begins with a fuzzy, wiry guitar solo with pulsing bass and scratchy, rather jazzy drums. The vocals sounds like they are processed through an old Leslie speaker. Electronic bass pulse tones appear before continuing the song’s original structure. A wiry guitar solo starts up. More electronic bass tones come after. Strange, faint high-pitched noises also show up. Strange noises are heard, created by scraping heavily on a violin, with the same electronic bass pulse tones. The same structure continues. The track ends with some faint voices followed by the same violin noises as earlier, getting eventually cut off. In terms of style, this reminds me of a mix of the pre-1974 version of the Residents mixed with the previously unreleased Captain Beefheart song “Korn Ring Finger”, which was recorded during the Mirror Man sessions back in late 1967.
“Divine Hammer”-This starts off with bass and a wiry guitar chord that leads to a rather Smiths-style indie jam with vocals. A guitar solo appears, and its distortion is so clean that it reminds me of the guitar solo from Sanullim’s 1982 track “In The Past”. This ends with weird noises.
“S.O.S”-Not a cover of the Avtograf song of the same name, but this piece is rather interesting. It’s an instrumental that begins with a strange mechanical and distorted noise that was created (literally) by plugging in a Kenmore 12-stitch sewing machine into a Marshall guitar amp. This reminds me of when Captain Beefheart used a custom-built “atomic flour sifter” for use on the track “Son of Mirror Man-Mere Man” from his 1968 album Strictly Personal. A punk jam develops as you hear high-pitched guitar noises. Feedback appears in parts of the song. More amplified sewing machine noises appear as the track ends with a final punk melody that ends with an experimental fuzz noise.
“Hag”-The guitar chords in the opening of this track sounds rather Christmas-y. It leads into a rather soft jam with bass, drums, and guitar and vocals. The guitars start to get fuzzy, turning the song into more conventional punk. More Christmas-sounding guitar chords appear as the song gradually fades out.
“Saints”-This track begins with a fuzzy guitar solo followed by a hardcore-sounding jam, this time with a much slower drumbeat. Another fuzzy guitar solo appears. This track almost has a typical radio rock feel for its time.
“Drivin’ on 9”-This begins with vocals and an acoustic guitar melody. The chords sound like they came from an acoustic-electric guitar because of how they have a little reverb (the non-echo reverb) onto them. It leads into a rollicking country rock piece with guitar, bass, and drums. A violin tune also appears with acoustic guitar and a banjo. The acoustic guitar in this song sounds like it had a little phaser attached to it. The drums start to get a little punky at one point. This is the most unusual track on the whole album, because it is a rather friendly-sounding country rock tune! Maybe this would be a good way to introduce your country/Americana-loving grandparents to the Breeders, by the way.
“Roi (Reprise)”-This is the shortest track on the whole album, and also the closing track, clocking in at only 42 seconds. It starts out with a fuzzy, reverb-filled guitar with a pulsing bass tone and feedback. A punk jam appears, with some more feedback. It ends with a speed chord. This pretty much has the same formula from the original version of “Roi”.
After listening to this album, I would like to say that this is the best 90’s indie/alternative rock album I had ever heard. I like it because it is augmented by several different and strange forms of sonic experimentation that are not typical in most indie and alternative groups from this time, especially for that unusual country rock tune at the near end of the album. Even the album’s psychedelic artwork made the album sound even better. If you see a copy of it on CD or vinyl, or if you spot it on iTunes or Google Play, go ahead and buy it, and then have fun with it.
The Crazy Mind of Tré Roland 