Microminiature Love

Album review

Recorded in Minneapolis in 1968, but not released until about 35 years later, Microminiature Love is both of its time and out of time. Certainly there's some late '60s power trio hard rock- psychedelia to the way Michael Yonkers Band grinds out his creepy, unrelentingly minor-keyed songs of gloom. The bashing of the drums is as shaky in tempo as his voice is in timbre, wailing in a tormented tone that's something of a somewhat less off-key, more powerful forefather of later auteurs like Jandek. There were few other rock songwriters of the era as plugged into such an incessantly downer mood, and when he sings "heaven's turning into hell, life is turning into death" on the title track, you believe it, or at least you believe it's happening to him. Perhaps the closest reference point might be the Stooges, but Microminiature Love is much rawer in some respects than the Stooges' first few albums, sounding as if it's the product of a basement rehearsal that was caught on tape unbeknownst to the band. (Indeed, it's hard to believe that this was intended for release on Sire Records, although the deal never came to pass.) Some-of-the-time anti-establishment ethos is present in the anti-war protest of "Kill the Enemy," though rarely has it been offered in such a bluntly horrific and ugly fashion as Yonkers did here. Though limited melodically, Yonkers also cooks up some impressive guitar pyrotechnics here and there, particularly on "Boy in the Sandbox," which climaxes with truly frightening bursts of machine gun guitar. All that said, this isn't a great record or a lost masterpiece. It's far too monotonous for that, with most of the material sitting on a minor E chord as if it's trying to bludgeon itself to death by repetition. The CD reissue adds six additional bonus demos from 1969 cut in Yonkers's parents' basement that are quite similar in feel to the recordings that made it onto the projected LP.

© Richie Unterberger /TiVo