CANDY MACHINE – “A MODEST PROPOSAL” (1994)
Here’s an overlooked East Coast band from the ’90s that moved in a direction similar to their contemporaries on Dischord or Amphetamine Reptile. Scaruffi.com sez:
The initial line-up of the Candy Machine was centered around singer Peter Quinn and guitarist Daniel Papkin. Their noise-rock became a sensation around Baltimore via two self-released cassettes…the second album, “A Modest Proposal” (Skene, 1994) [displayed] the raw, angular, dissonant of the band coalesced in well-honed songs.
Warp guitar riffs, incessant rhythm and intense albeit inaudible vocals recall the Minutemen’s funk-punk. Quinn raps the lyrics of Syndicate, Apples, Continental in a sneering tone reminiscent of John Lydon and Mark Smith. The band’s instrumental prowess is in full display in free-form and mostly instrumental tracks like The Over Under Rule In Progress and Procession. In the loose harmonic structures of these songs their dissonant, edgy counterpoint truly blooms.
YES!! i played this album non-stop when it came out and i still love it to this day.
I saw CM a couple times around the time of the release of this album. Whereas I love the records, I still feel like they never really were as good on stage as they were in the studio. Glad to finally get this record again. I’ll be playing it (a lot) this afternoon.
I have to say I agree with H20. I lived in B’more 1994-2002 and loved the Machine records. Live shows were, uh, interesting but somewhat underwhelming. This record, however, is a great and weird blend of Big Blackish rhythms and Fall-type rapping/singing. Singer Quinn still fronts bands, but IMHO none of them measured up the this one.
Let me just make the point that downloading this album was a highlight of my day yesterday. Now if I could only find the other two… (equally brilliant in their own ways).
i had a couple of their 7′s and the Tune International LP. great band.
Wonderful band…Their shows at Memory Lane in Baltimore were a real big deal. They bounced sounds off those grimey walls like no other band could. And Peter is a nice guy. I got to see them towards the end (of their horr -ah) at this weird place called THE # CLUB (in Balt)…..I think I even donated a JOY DIVISION poster to the place….miss those days…