GILGONGO RECORDS

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BABY GECKO / SOFT SHOULDER - split 7" (GGGR-010).
one time pressing of 500, all on black. Split release with Macro-Eden and Robothouse: the Label.

BABY GECKO / SOFT SHOULDER.
7 songs on a split 7" from two Arizona bands. Flagstaff's BABY GECKO were ex-members of the over-the-top PONIES (Doggponey Records) and played short and catchy songs with a poppy Big Black feel to them (somehow). SOFT SHOULDER: Tempe-based no-wave punk / noise, along the lines of X-Ray Spex meets Contortions meets Sonic Youth with free jazz / feedback total breakdowns. Awesome output from Arizona's DIY scene.

REVIEWS. (from both issues)

(trembleunderboomlights.blogspot.com)
Three of the four BG songs sound entirely/only influenced by the Butthole Surfers' "Who Was In My Room Last Night?" and that is just about the highest compliment I can give. Have you not heard that song, do yourself a favor and find it and proceed to have your brain eviscerated by point-by-point perfect rock and roll. It's almost like Soft Shoulder didn't have a chance…but the drop-tuned guitar, sax and clarinet work together in a wildly original manner. I wanna say a bit no wave but this seems to hold a particular ferocity that the No New York bands oftentimes lacked. And with the clari, I'm thinking more of the JSBX version of the Chain Gang's "Son of Sam". And I just happened to have that in my head all day. Crazy weird. Despite having the Buttholes on their side, Soft Shoulder wins this one by the nose of a clarinet.

(20jazzfunkgreats.blogspot.com)
Baby Gecko arrive from Arizona in a lovely split 7 with no wave sax gremlins Soft Shoulders recently released by Gilgongo, pushing into the vanishing point at the end of the road with the committed strength of true post-hardcore noise rock believers, the sort of epic progressions we were talking about last week unfurl like continental rifts played back at ultra-fast speed, or as they say in these parts, 'someone threw Sonic Youth into the harvester and their blood nurtured our crops, may the fruits of the Earth make the children of this farm grow strong and healthy' (they do).

(Doug Mosurak | dustedmagazine.com).
Baby Gecko plays pretty simple, light basement punk, in love as it is with an era of Matt & Kim “we can do anything we want” urgency as it is with itself. Four songs here from this defunct outfit, crossing up decent if basic K-punk orthodoxy with some extremely self-righteous sounding lyrics. Kind of hard to take these songs where some kid's singing about how he's better than you. Unless you like that sort of abuse, of course. On the flip side, Soft Shoulder lays down some loose, rhythmically challenged no wave/chamber jazz action, with sloppy drums and shredding guitar blasting all around sax, clarinet, and girl/boy lyrics of the NOU stripe (“we speak in colors,” etc.) There's a built-in audience for this stuff. I admire its spunk, but I don't think that being in a band in America is a courageous act.