Puddle

In true indie rock spirit , Puddle rips it up and tears it off with a nod to Fugazi and a wink to Primus. They jerk and jump with offbeat rhythms, focusing their power on complex beats and stop-and-start sensibility. The disc has an unbelievable live feel. It strangely reminds me of the fractured genius of Beastie Boy’s Check You Head, an album that revealed the simple synergy amongst it’s three members.

The disc begins with the all out fuzzy guitar assault of Spellbound, which is complimented by the silly hand jive of Standing By. A rhythmic hint of early Rush shows up in the intro for Box Spring Mattress, a tune which quickly turns into a hurried funk groove that sounds like a hyperactive Dave Mathews song. There’s a slightly punk attitude evident in Correlation Two, and a hint of jazz in Sketches From The Rear Room.

This is an album which becomes more and more exciting each time I hear it, a definite one to grow on.

MISHMASH MANDATE: Dissonant Bliss - unknown

If one were to sum up the parts of Puddle into one word, it would be “unique”. the first thing that comes across in their latest release, Run To The Water, is the sense of urgency that the band displays. This is obvious right off the bat on selections like “Spellbound” and “Standing By”, where frenetic guitar strumming is coupled with a furious and funky bass/drums combination.
Brother’s Jeremy and Joel Price handle the guitar and bass chores respectively, and Eric Bannasch pulls it all together on the drums. Rhythm is the band’s strong suit, and they display this penchant throughout.
I can almost hear touches of Frank Zappa on tracks like “Box Spring Mattress” and the title track, as musical diversity is mixed with a delightful dose of pure silliness. It’s rather delightful to behold, actually.
“Enter The Puddle” features guitar noodling that gives way to upbeat jazz, whilst “Sketches From The Rear Room” and “Correlation Two” brandish a harder edge. “Correlation” is especially interesting with its garage feel and great harmony hook on the chorus before jumping into an extended spoken word break where hyper guitars join in on the fun.
More jazz influences abound on “Trimming The Fat”, a slower number with the flavor of the classic Brubeck track, “Take Five”.
Run To The Water is a sonically pleasing self produced effort with help from Dave Nachodsky, who mixed and mastered the CD, displaying Puddle as a powerful trio with an enigmatic pop posture.
- Alan J. Phillips

I seem to be getting a lot of submissions from Baltimore lately, and this is of the better ones. Puddle is a standard rock trio line up with guitar/vox, bass and drums. This offer features a very dry, live recorded, organic feel with little guitar orchestration or fancy effects. But these cats can PLAY! The bassist and drummer lock magnetically with dude’s quirky rapid-fire chording, and the snappy strumming is up front and barenaked in all its glory.

Dylin Ritalyn-DEMORAMA 5/01 - Dylin Ritalyn