Ben Pilgrim

“God should have made you ugly, ’cause that’s what you act like.” No doubt Ben Pilgrim wasn’t talking about how the rest of the country is treating Detroit these days, but like Bob Marley said, if the cap fits… I’ve never felt more clearly like I wasn’t a part of the United States, like I was living in some backwater colony that had outlived its mercantile usefulness. Hey remember, people live here; it’s like being in the South before the Civil War. Maybe we should start talking nullification. Anyway, Ben Pilgrim is a Rhode Island crooner, sloppy and heartfelt and primitive. And he’s welcome to visit the D whenever he wants (assuming the whole state of Michigan isn’t purchased by Ontario for a year’s supply of Timbits).

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Six Star General

Before I ever listened to the sloppy, (mostly) instrumental rock of Providence’s Six Star General, I liked them. Check out these blurbs from their Rhode Island-based label, 75 or Less — regarding the 2007 album Sick Stars, Sister Cyst, note that it includes “covers of Creedence Clearwater Revival, Butthole Surfers and Jonathan Richmond”; the album Already on One, also from 2007, “clock[s] in at 26 minutes, … their longest release to date … includes a pair of instrumentals. Influences include Mudhoney, Spacemen 3, Silkworm”; and their self-titled album was “recorded in six hours with no overdubs – 11 tracks in 22 minutes – equal parts punk, quasi-metal and distorted pop.” Unlike a lot of the garbage that publicists and label folks offer up, these assessments and observations totally match up with the ten minutes of music available for download in the four tracks below. Who cares if these guyscan barely play their instruments? They make noise and have fun at it (and for my ears at least, the less singing, the better). Check out “Sun Up Pants Down” and see what I mean.

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