Various Artists New Paltz in the ’90s: A Loud Place
(Enter the Devil Recordings)With its youthful, artistic energy replenished with each incoming SUNY class, New Paltz has a well-earned reputation as one of the Hudson Valley’s premier bohemian enclaves. This nifty digital compilation shines the spotlight on the village’s 1990s-era music scene. Assembled by California-based electronic musician Gustavo Sandi, formerly of punk-funkateers Kung Fu Grip, it’s an aural time capsule to the earlier, beer-soaked floorboards of Snug Harbor (AKA Snug’s) and long-defunct venues like Oasis and the Griffon. The compilation’s title is a riff on the Walkill Valley Rail Trail truss bridge that featured in the 2018 horror film A Quiet Place. The stylistic diversity of the 11 bands on the album is striking. Como Zoo’s “Pumpernickel” is a jazzy, metallic groover. The band’s drummer, Martin Dosh, went on to a notable solo career and collaborations with Andrew Bird.
The all-female Fidoplankton epitomizes the early ’90s grunge zeitgeist with the fuzz-and-echo-drenched “Pepper.” Mearth’s “El Temperamental” evokes the manic noise rock of bands such as the Jesus Lizard. The aforementioned Kung Fu Grip’s “Garbage In, Garbage Out” delivers some deliciously abrasive rock with a jazzy undercurrent. Wormwood’s “Sleep Melody” has a progressive, chamber rock touch; the band featured guitarist John Burdick, whose current project is the much-loved Sweet Clementines. Anilore’s “Something Always Shines” has a bright, dreamy, high-decibel sound that evokes shoegazers like My Bloody Valentine. A Loud Place provides engaging context to a fertile period in local music.
