Last week, our pal Chris Zimmel (of Airship One and Massive Ferguson) mailed us a few tapes he had stashed away in his Edmontonian fortress. This is the first, and it's something we've been chasing after for a while. Staasi Quartet was note really a quartet - we have conflicting reports as to the membership, ranging from two people to more than forty. We know for sure that two of the folks were Ron Choe and Garrett McClure. Of course, we're pretty transparent about things we like. You already know we like the Primrods (just a bit past the point of obsession), so pre-P7 Garrett McClure has been a strong point of interest for us. This tape hasn't disappointed us; it hasn't left the tape deck much over the past week. We'd only previously managed to get hold of Staasi Quartet via the Hellride to a Bloodbath compilation, and this tape is quite different than the noisy guitar rock attack of Hellride's tracks. While much of this is richly steeped in early-90's indie rock (traces of Stereolab, Yo La Tengo and Sebadoh pervade), it's the first track that repeatedly blows our minds. "Available at Christmas in Hardcover Only" is basically a prototype of "Plans For Palmyra," from the Primrods' split 7" with Tristan Psionic and their tragically, criminally unreleased (*cough*) Geffen CD. We still have no idea what the lyrics are, but we don't care .
