GIVING UP / SARALEE
"split casstte"
SL056 CS

   
$5.00

"overdressed in underwear" (GIVING UP)



"take what you can carry" (SARALEE)



attention, campers:

this is a perfect soundtrack for the tail-end of a tailspin Summer, that weird Air of bittersweet vibes and lovely-Heavy that comes right before the rebirth and return of the clammy skeleton grip that is the Midwestern Fall.

this's like a suicide-cocktail that your sketchy Junior High friend whips up in his parents liquor cabinet while his back is turned to you: an unexpected concoction of both abrasive elements and potent sweetness, a headfirst mixed drink that turns out to be even stronger and sharper and stranger and smarter than you ever could have hoped for. it kicks right in all the best ways and it leaves the only Aftertaste that matters: wanting more... a lot more. it's an Instant Replay incarnate.

listening to the two sides of the tape, digging deep into the two sets of songs from these two mega-babe bands? it's like reading the collected letters and correspondence between two star-crossed, pock-faced, unrequited lovers. Side A & Side B back-to-back... it sounds like they're both itching to get drunk & flirty & start making-out with each other in the back of both of their vans. like if Giving Up and Saralee were mutual friends of yours who had never met each other? you would immediately try to hook them up & lay claim to being the match-maker who synced up the cutest couple at the dive bar.

this tape makes me wanna go to my mom's attic and dig out my two decade old Walkman just so i can carry this fucker everywhere with me. i want this with me on the Western Bus southbound when the neo-goth kids in front of me are sucking face and smearing each others different shades of purple lipstick together into a brand new witchy/black magic color. i want this with me next Tuesday at midnight on the roof of the Congress Theater when a longtime friend tells me he's either gonna blow his fucking brains out or move to Omaha for a few years. i want this with me when i run into my ex-girlfriend, the-one-that-got-away, the-love-of-my-life, the headphones blaring at full volume til my ears cry blood just a little bit & all i see is her lips moving & we hug like we want to fuck or just fucking kill each other. i want it with me as i grapple with head-boiling soul-crushing questions like, "what if those ancient mystics were right?" and, "is death an ending or a new point of departure?" and, "who the hell's got enough bad dope to get me high tonight?"

it's hard to write a love letter for someone you're really crushing on hard. it's easier when you're not ALL IN yet, when you only like them a little bit or maybe even not at all. i guess what i'm saying is, "with a tape this good any review is just gonna be a shitty love letter at best..." because i am crushing. i am crushing so fucking hard. i am crushing on this recording, on both its sides, on both of the bands, on all of the babes involved.

this tape is 100% certified Heavy Crush material, and i'm in love with it. if by some story book miracle this tape can transmogrify itself & Pinocchio it's way into becoming a real-life living and breathing human being? then i'm gonna go out looking for it...

and when i find it? i'm gonna keep it. i'm gonna pet it. i'm gonna feed it. i'm gonna touch its face blindly until i can see it. i'm gonna do it with my eyes closed & get to know it too well. and rewind it. and repeat it. and i suggest you do the same thing, kiddos.

--Dakota Loesch