Crawling With Tarts, aka Michael Gendreau and Suzanne Dycus-Gendreau, are apparently known to some for their expansive experimental music. What the two have done on »Tearoom«, however, is rather the opposite of expansive. It’s very simple in fact: a small, drunken tub drifts into a cobbled-together harbour. »Tearoom« consists of 11 carefree DIY volatilisations. Recorded in 1984, originally released on cassette only. The duo make music according to all the rules of the home studio, editing in, editing out, holding divergent ideas together through the tremendous intimacy that these recordings exude. Dycus-Gendreau sometimes sings a bit, sometimes she talks a bit more. Their style of delivery will not motivate anyone to lift weights. Add bass, house drums and a woozy electric guitar, and I end up theatrically putting the back of my hand to my forehead, diagnosing a fever and lying down on the chaise longue clutching a drink. Recalcitrance comes very easily with this music. The attitude is punk, the sound small and tender. At the moment, you’re most likely to find a similar sound being played by the likes of Discreet Musik or Horn Of Plenty, Treasury Of Puppies, etc. Or maybe you think I’m crazy? Or did Donna Lewis steal the melody for her mega-hit from »Island«?
Tearoom
