Influential post-punk band Bitch Magnet reissue their catalog with Temporary Residence Limited
Bitch Magnet Deluxe on 3xLP and 3CD with Temporary Residence Limited
It has seemed the Brooklyn New York label Temporary Residence Limited has done it all since its inception in 1995. Decade defining releases with epic prints and superb quality, they have preserved one space in the ongoing legacy of experimental music in the rock world since the 90′s. Explosions in the Sky, Pinback, The Blackheart Procession, Cerberus Shoal, Coliseum, Nice Nice, Tarentel, Young Widows, Mono, Sleeping People, Grails, Maserati, The Drift, Eluvium, The Books; the labels history is mind blowing when putting in perspective the different interpretations and new approaches to rock everyone from the label has brought to the world. It can become a common question for anyone who has enjoyed Temporary Residence Limited for any amount of time over the years of their existence, how can the label top themselves considering this legacy? The label answered that question this year with the reissue and launch of previously unreleased material of influential post punk and hardcore North Carolina based band Bitch Magnet.
Bitch Magnet is a group I knew little about prior to this year. Jeremy deVine of Temporary Residence Limited sent me a promo that collected 9 samples of the 3xLP and 3CD collection the label has constructed from of the groups catalog and I got the collection full right after I heard the small sample. Remastered from the original analog tapes with supervision from the members of the group, this 3 disc set is an intense look into a band that only existed for half a decade but impacted the landscape of rock forever after it. With a nice size portion of unreleased tracks, the 34 song collection that Temporary Residence Limited and Bitch Magnet have co-released is a very important historical statement for people who are into many of the math rock and post rock bands that have blown been known to blow minds over the years. All Tomorrow Parties had this to say about their influence, “Much like their contemporaries in Slint, in the years following their breakup, Bitch Magnet has been recognized as a significant influence on generations of aggressive and musically complex bands, including Don Caballero, Rodan, June of 44 and Battles.” Simply dubbed Deluxe Edition, these songs represent the pulse of the American youth when rock and roll had become stale and the reinvention of musicianship was reintroduced into the fold of aggressive and controlled power. Amps are turned all the way up, effects are used sparingly, the drums are all over the place and there is always song writing with a high degree of musicianship. Some of the time changes and dynamic shifts created is phenomenal when you realize they pulled off the hook as cleverly as the intertwining guitar, bass and drum parts.
Musical giant, journalist and engineer Steve Albini was responsible for producing the groups first EP Star Booty in 1988. Bitch Magnet would sign with the US based label Communion Records shortly after the private release on Roman Candle Records and do a second run of the EP. Star Booty is a completely raw recording that reflects the band before they had modified their sound to include more intricate and advanced song writing. The bass, guitar and drums are not as prominent, dynamic, clean and defined as they are with the two full lengths that follow this EP, Umber and Ben Hur. Despite this difference, the power of the recording is just as intense. The album was recorded January 6-8th 1988 at Con Audio, Oberlin OH with the exception of the last song ‘Cantaloupe’. This track was recorded live on October 25th 1987 at the famous, and sad to say defunct, historical venue CBGB in New York City.
Bonus 7" with the first pressings of Ben Hur (1990). Photo from discogs.com
Bitch Magnet had released their first full length Umber by the time 1989 rolled around. With UK and Germany giving the album distribution in the labels Glitterhouse and What Goes On Records, the band set a trail across the United States, the UK and Europe that merges paths with some of the most influential names in modern rock history. The detailed work put into the package and liner notes for the release break all of this down. Temporary Residence Limited honored this band and their legacy the right way.
By the turn of the decade, Bitch Magnet was only a few years old and already ready to launch their second full length release with Ben Hur. The first release even came with a bonus 7″ that contains the songs Sadie and Where Eagles Fly which is a cover of Where Eagles Dare by the Misfits. The rock world always keeps it coming with the special bonus items and Temporary Residence has taken all of this into account with the final track selection and packaging. Absorbing this much new information about this period of music has opened up my eyes in a completely different way on post punk and hardcore music. With crunchy bass, over drive guitars and a new sound on every track, there is so many things to cherish and love about a band like this. By the time you get to the bands end, you see a group who is high in a high octane mode and a completely new sound nobody around them was touching yet. If you have never heard this group and you are are into Hella, Battles, Fugazi, Don Caballero and other groups of this nature, you need to check out this compilation. Sophistication has always had a place in aggressive and experimental rock music, that place had a lot to do with the North Carolina group Bitch Magnet.
- Erik Otis
Ian Williams of Battles and Don Caballero had this to say about Bitch Magnet. “Probably more than any other band, Bitch Magnet sent me in the direction I took with the music I have tried to make.“
Bitch Magnet
Temporary Residence Limited
2011
Track Listing
Disc 1 (Ben Hur)
- Dragoon
- Valmead
- Ducks and Drakes
- Mesentery
- Lookin’ At The Devil
- Gator
- Spite y Malice
- Crescent
- White Piece of Bread
- Sadie
Disc 2 (Umber)
- Motor
- Navajo Ace
- Clay
- Joan of Arc
- Douglas Leader
- Goat-Legged Country God
- Big Pining
- Joyless Street
- Punch and Judy
- Americruiser
- Motor (Alternate Mix)*
Disc 3 (Star Booty)
- Punch and Judy (Alternate Version)*
- Joan of Arc (Alternate Version)*
- Big Pining (Alternate Version)*
- Joyless Street (Alternate Version)*
- Sadie (Alternate Version)*
- Carnation
- C Word
- Sea of Pearls
- Hatpins
- Knucklehead
- Circle K
- Polio
- Cantaloupe
Order the 3xLP or 3CD HERE
