Toiling Midgets - A Smaller Life
Double click for enlarge

A Smaller Life

Label Full Contact Records ‎– krypt-067Ektro Records ‎– none
Format 2 x Vinyl, LP, Compilation
Barcode 6417138629746
Country Finland
Released 2015
Genre Rock
Style Punk, New Wave
Delivery time

In stock


In stock at our distributor, expected delivery within a few days.


This item is imported from Netherlands.

$24

Curated primarily from high-quality studio sessions engineered by the late Tom Mallon, the double-LP compilation amasses 24 tracks never before pressed on vinyl. These songs span the wiry charge of a 1980 demo to a charred feedback orgy consummated in 2011. As time marches on, the sound evolves and intensifies but stays true to Craig Gray's basic template, drawn when he founded the group as the predominantly instrumental successor to his classic Bay Area punk quartet, Negative Trend. Detours along the way include a pair of outtakes featuring American Music Club vocalist Mark Eitzel, as well as five haunted collaborations with ex-Sleepers frontman Ricky Williams, whose 1992 passing truncated his second and final tenure with the Midgets. As distinctive as they are, however, these singers don't matter too much. The band's undeniable core is the friction generated by guitarists Gray and Paul Hood, in which concise, circular chord progressions fornicate with expressionistic smears. Set against the weighty, shifting rhythms of Mallon and original drummer Tim Mooney (also RIP), the elemental riffs transform into a thing of searing majesty and bruising beauty.

1980 - 1983
A1 Do The Incendiary
A2 Warehouse
A3 If You Choose To Live
A4 So He Sayeth
A5 Richard Speck
A6 Caverns II
1989 - 1992
B1 EQ Plex
B2 The Brush
B3 Mr. Spine
B4 Nadine
B5 To Die
B6 Little Charlene
1991 - 1996
C1 Sequence 13
C2 Wolf Blitzer
C3 Pumice
C4 Why Can't We?
C5 When
C6 Train Set
1995 - 2011
D1 No Paul, No
D2 Andi
D3 Clock
D4 Yakuza Serenade
D5 Broken
D6 Burn
Bass – Aaron Gregory (A4 - A6)
Bass – Erich Werner (C5, C6, D1 - D5)
Bass – Joe Goldring (B6, C1 - C4)
Bass – Lisa Davis (B1 - B5)
Bass – Nosmo King (A1, A2)
Curated By – Jordan N. Mamone
Drums – Tim Mooney (A1, A2, A5, A6, B1 - B6, C1, C2)
Drums – Tom Mallon (C3 - C6, D1 - D5)
Drums, Synth – Craig Gray (A4)
Engineer – Aaron Gregory (B1)
Engineer – Craig Gray (D6)
Engineer – David Paul (A3, A4)
Engineer – Tom Mallon (A1, A2, A5, A6, B2 - D5)
Guitar – Annie Ungar (A5, A6)
Guitar – Craig Gray (A1 - A3, A5, A6, B1 - D6)
Guitar – Paul Hood (A1 - A3, A5, A6, B1 - D6)
Keyboards – Mark Sullivan (D1 - D5)
Mixed By – Craig Gray (A5, A6, C2 - D6)
Mixed By – Tom Mallon (A1 - A4, B1 - B6, C1)
Other [Machines] – David Paul (A4)
Transferred By [From Audio Tape] – Chris von Sneidern
Viola – Joanna Hood (C6)
Viola – Mary Redfield (C3)
Vocals – Mark Eitzel (B4, B5)
Vocals – Ricky Williams (A3, A4, C2 - C4)
Curated primarily from high-quality studio sessions engineered by the late Tom Mallon, the double-LP compilation amasses 24 tracks never before pressed on vinyl. These songs span the wiry charge of a 1980 demo to a charred feedback orgy consummated in 2011. As time marches on, the sound evolves and intensifies but stays true to Craig Gray's basic template, drawn when he founded the group as the predominantly instrumental successor to his classic Bay Area punk quartet, Negative Trend. Detours along the way include a pair of outtakes featuring American Music Club vocalist Mark Eitzel, as well as five haunted collaborations with ex-Sleepers frontman Ricky Williams, whose 1992 passing truncated his second and final tenure with the Midgets. As distinctive as they are, however, these singers don't matter too much. The band's undeniable core is the friction generated by guitarists Gray and Paul Hood, in which concise, circular chord progressions fornicate with expressionistic smears. Set against the weighty, shifting rhythms of Mallon and original drummer Tim Mooney (also RIP), the elemental riffs transform into a thing of searing majesty and bruising beauty.
Matrix / Runout (Side A) – 127425E1/A
Matrix / Runout (Side B) – 127425E2/A
Matrix / Runout (Side C) – 127425E3/A
Matrix / Runout (Side D) – 127425E4/A
46 PEOPLE
Have

33 PEOPLE
Want

1 PEOPLE
Rated 3.0 average
Share

Available formats

(0) Items
Items 0
Subtotal $0.00
To Top