Registered: Aug 2000
Location: the heart of an awl
Posts: 3692

The Dark Fantastic

1999 - The Dark Fantastic
2001 - Goodbye Crooked Scar

straight out of ellensburg, washington.

it's not so much a band as it is this guy that's played in several seattle bands (drummer for Screaming Trees, vocalist for Truly). His name is Mark Pickerel. He more or less quit trying to be a "rock star" when he left the Trees in 1991. Since then, he opened a record store (Rodeo Records) and worked on two Truly albums and two Dark Fantastic albums. Doing things on his own terms.

Both Dark Fantastic albums show this unhurried approach to making music. The songs all seem to just happen. Dreamlike stuff, a weird desert sound. It's not alterna-pop. Maybe a little bit of psychedelia, some solid NW rock sound, some mariachi, some electronica. The first album covers a little more area, stylistically, than the second. The second is shorter, but much more focused, more storytelling, but still coming in with the Mike Johnson (bassist, Dinosaur Jr.) and Martin Feveryear (producer, keyboards).

I bought the first album back in february, listened to it a few times, then kind of misplaced it. I started listening to it again a couple weeks ago, it kind of sunk in. Then last weekend I stopped at Rodeo Records on the way home from the Mudhoney show, and found the new album.

I'm sure i've listened to it at least a dozen times since then. There's something in it that's resonating with me. It's not a perfect ten of an album, but some parts just click. Good luck finding it on your favorite mp3 filesharing service. I know the first album is available from the Up Records site. I don't know if they have the new album there yet. They do, however, have Mike Johnson's solo album, which is pretty good.

if you have trouble finding any of that stuff, hit me up in chat when i'm around and i could DCC some tracks to you.

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POW!

[This message has been edited by WastedPotential (edited 05-16-2001).]

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