"Dead Moon "Echoes Of The Past" (Sub Pop 2006)
Dead Moon is as close to the true spirit of rock and/or roll as a
band's gonna get. That spirit isn't hard to conjure, either. Here's
all you need: a loud guitar with no effects, a bass, some drums and
a candleholder made out of a Jack Daniels bottle. And seriously,
what musician hasn't thought about getting down to those bare, raw
essentials? Dead Moon is one of the few bands that pared themselves
down that far and stayed simultaneously sparse and relevant. When
you've got that unshakable faith in thumping three chord rock music
you don't need to look pretty, kiss up to the indie elite… or even
release your records in stereo, dammit.

The band has been putting out records since 1988, but it's safe to
say that Dead Moon's genesis came the day that husband and wife
Toody and Fred Cole met in the late sixties. They lived hand to
mouth, building houses out of scrap materials and generally living
exactly how they wanted, no matter the poverty level. After playing
in more bands than any sane human being should be able to keep track
of, Fred Cole taught his wife how to play bass, instated wildman
Andrew Loomis on drums and promptly started cutting Dead Moon's
records by hand on the same mono lathe used to record "Louie Louie".
Kinda makes today's DIY types look like a booger, eh?

Echoes Of The Past is an exhaustive two-disc compilation of an
essential rock band whose sound (on average) meets somewhere between
Zeppelin's "Communication Breakdown", Greg Sage & The Wipers and the
trudgier moments of The Thermals early stuff. All the bases are
covered here: the nightmarish jangle of "DOA", a blistering live
version of "54/40 Or Fight", the wildly distorted "Black September",
two of the best songs you've never heard in "It's OK" and "I Hate
The Blues"… it's all covered. And it's all fucking awesome.

No pretensions here, folks. Just a few chords, a lot of from-the-gut
howling from Fred and Toody and more grit and realism than you're
gonna find from nearly any band that's made a record in the last
decade. Dead Moon has assured fans that they're gonna play until one
of them dies, and… that is the most rock and roll statement I've
ever heard. Play on.
- Marc"

See:
www.retrolowfi.com