This NEGRO SPIRITUALS 7″ comes from a label in New York called A Wicked Company. From 1989 to 1994 it was better known as Vertical Records, but Tony Procaccino has kept the label dormant until now.
During that span where Vertical Records was still active, they were pushing singles from bands like Sebadoh, Royal Trux and Cop Shoot Cop just to name a few, but to see them get back into the business now screams nothing but pure passion. Black Garden is the first for the newly reinstated label, serving up this noisy, blown-out “splatter punk” from this trio in Appleton, WI.
It all starts with “Black Garden”, revealing a dark and troubled energy as wonky bass lines and strobing guitar textures begin to flood the mix. As the track unfolds we’re sucked into this gaping black abyss that literally washes over everything, slowly but surely gravitating closer and closer to complete destruction. Flip over to the B-side for an instantly cleaner sound, characterized by colorfully woozy synth waves and deep, fuzzy bass lines. With a lighter track like this you could almost say it’s like listening to two different bands, but that’s not the case – they retain the same gritty, fuzzed-out complexion for almost eight minutes, leaving us very curious what we could possibly hear next from this noise-fucked Wisconsin crew.
Hear these tracks via Bandcamp right below, then you can buy the 7″ from Bandcamp as well. It’s only $4.50 – it doesn’t get much better than that.
Genre/ Tags: Noise Rock, Punk, Lo-Fi
Black Garden 7″: Tracklist:
1.) Black Garden
2.) Ancient Trees
BUY the 7″ from A Wicked Company on Bandcamp – limited to 500 !
A Wicked Company on Facebook
Styrofoam Drone 
Vertical Records is/was run by group consensus. There is no head honcho. Thanks for the AWC writeup though
Vertical was/is run by consensus, there is/was no head honcho, thanks for the AWC writeup nonetheless
Is this the first & only release by Negro Spirituals? I ask because it’s excellent & I’d love to hear more from these guys. Thanks.