Kath - Kath 1 (1974) (2011) 2CD

Not many albums can get you in the mood to blow out your speakers quite like Kath, a band that evolved from local Maryland 1960’s band Badge. This is an authentic low-fi DIY effort, recorded in the home of the band’s leader (and, yes, actually dedicated to his pet monkey—and his girlfriend!), originally released in 1974 in a micro edition of 60 hand-made copies, and later reconfigured for a legendary Rockadelic label LP version.

Truth to tell, the Kath album is full of well written melodic songs with loose, semi-ramshackle, low-fi/no-fi production values. Nothing gets down and dirty quite like 'Say What You Feel,' with its blown out bass, killer guitar and drums, echoed vocals and sound effects; well, actually, ‘Love Me Down' is equally potent. The band also had a fondness for tape experimentation ('Seagulls') and simply screwing around ('Toilet Theme'). As Patrick the Lama said in Acid Archives, “Obscure and impressive melodic basement garage/psych excursion with a lo-fi atmosphere that would have most purveyors flip out, hits the Ampex two-track echo & tinny drum sound dead on....

At times the vibe is almost like Mystery Meat or Index, and that's not something you run across every day. A totally outside garage/psych/private LP that feels as personally projected as those Michael Yonkers sides. Nuts lo-fi recording quality and impossible-to-figure production values gives this a nicely zonked almost real-people vibe. Keyboards, fuzz, heap of amateur avant spirit and a cover of 'Norwegian Wood' that ranks up there as one of the few listenable Beatles covers ever cut by teens with brains." There's also included Badge's excellent 1978 five-track EP as bonus tracks.