Pink & Brown Shame Fantasy II CD

Shame Fantasy II collects the three-quarter hours of recorded output of the short-lived Pink & Brown two-man costume noise-rock extravaganza. Guitarist Pink is John Dwyer (Ohsees, Dig That Body Up, Up Its Alive, the Coachwhips, Zeigenbock Kopf) and drummer Brown is Jeff Rosenberg (also ofLumen, the Young People). Together they make a bustle and skree spit drum screamfest worthy of Dwyer's mid-'90s Providence, RI background. The CD compiles three sessions and is arranged in reverse chronological order, compiling five previously unreleased tracks recorded by Dave Broekema of Numbers, five tracks from a split with Death Drug, and Final Foods, their full-length LP. Unsurprising, this makes for a 22-song album spiralling from razor-crazed grooves and noise to sludgy, sometimes amateurish experimentation. Early tracks like "Enter Officer, Exit Wound" sear with energy, though recorded badly enough that the tight, scrappy noise sounds distant and somewhat untouchable. "Sherriff Jessum," from the split, makes the jump to tight, mature songwriting, evidence of their having soaked in the rays thrown by 2002 tour mates Lightning Bolt. The dirgy, dirty rock bass and constant crashing of "Messy Bessy, Get Undressy" and "Black Pearl," full of upfront buzz and danceable noise-rock charisma, show that the band, last recorded on January 1, 2003, packed it up at a peak. Because the two lived in separate cities, and toured with scene makers like the Bolt, Pink & Brown never reached the same acclaim as their contemporaries, but still had an explosive live presence and discernibly unique sound in the noise rock pantheon. ~ Daphne Carr

Photographer: Virgil Porter.Mojo (Publisher) (7/03, p.109) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...Like mainlining dynamite, this'll blow your head off..."