Prairie Dog Flesh - Take the Green Over the Red
(Three Lobed)
Prairie Dog Flesh have been playing shows for a number of years around
Philadelphia, and are a somewhat mysterious side
project of Bardo Pond. The band is basically just Bardo Pond with their old
drummer, Joe Culver. Resembling the earlier,
dirty, unkempt, and sloppy days of Bardo Pond, they blur the line between
"side project" and "main project." The main glaring
difference is that the Prairie Dog Flesh's voice is that of bassist, Clint
Takeda. The Prairie Dog Flesh have now
stepped out and released something for those of us who haven't been lucky
enough to see them live.
The band was described by Joe Culver as something they would do while
fooling around on Friday nights, an informal, loosely-formed outlet.
Originally it was done while Isobel was away at work, but
she eventually began joining in as well. So, it
comes as no surprise that the collection of songs that make up Take the
Green over the Red sound quite a bit like Bardo
Pond. "The Winged Dog" starts with a two note delayed guitar line, panning
slowly across the speakers while Clint talks
over the repetitious fuzz. Drums pulse only in the deep recesses of the
mix. The distorted blues chord riff of "Vampire
Squid" combined with the simple vocal line are probably the closest the
Bardo's will get to sounding like they're a pop band
from Olympia, Washington. The delicate last track, "Donovan Out," is played
with a single acoustic guitar and accented by
quiet bongos, both accompanying hushed vocals.
Where Bardo Pond seem to have a specific place they intend to take the
listener, Prairie Dog Flesh are more free form, less
specific. Their songs wander a bit more and follow tangents a little more
frequently. Sometimes this comes across as
brilliant, and sometimes it's an aimless mishmash. Prairie Dog Flesh (Bardo
Pond) have spent enough time habiting this
musical terrain that they have no trouble finding a spot in your head and
making plenty room for their music.
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