This Has Aged Well

Neighborhood Texture Jam is a Memphis institution, initially conceived by a bunch of middle-class, private-school-educated 20-year-olds, waaaay back in the late 80's. (They still get back together every once in awhile.) I wasn't friends with these guys or anything, but we ran in the same circles, and I distinctly remember that first afternoon my friend Dave played Funeral Mountain for me in his dorm room. I was rendered speechless by how good it was, how sophisticated and polished it sounded compared to our shitty college band. Even more amazingly, it got reviewed in Rolling Stone!

Funeral Mountain walks a fine, ferocious line between full-blown hardcore assault and Southern twin-guitar psych-out jam, with some industrial percussion thrown in for good measure. Singer- lyricist Joe Lapsley has quite a way with words: "I fell into the borax factory/Of your love," he wails in "Borax Factory," a saline love song that deserves to become a modern classic, and tunes like "Old South" ("Want to see the rebel flags?/Want to go see 'em?/ They're next to the swastikas in a museum") and the trudge epic "Torsos of Murdered People" (splatter rock with a vengeance) give an indication of his range. For the full impact of his rage, put this one on and turn it up: These guys rock like their lives depended on it.

I dug it out the other day, and this disc has aged really well. Lyrically, Funeral Mountain focuses primarily on society's unpleasant underbelly, but listening again, I was reminded of one song in particular that disturbed me. "The Big Johnson" is one of the best songs on the disc, but it fucked me up for a week. Fondue Takes Principles, ladies.