Century Plaza [LP]

by Dan Sartain, Brad Davis

Overview

Since the early 2000s, Alabama's Dan Sartain has plied his trade in the indie underground, crafting his image as a sort of lo-fi grifter with a noir-ish, Cramps-ian bent. Exuding an aura of danger and charm, his sly mix of punk, garage, and rockabilly has led to big tours with heavy hitters like the White Stripes and the Hives, yet he remains a cult figure at best. Every now and then, he shakes up the formula, stretching out into new territories like lounge, spaghetti western, and even mariachi, but for the most part, he's kept at least one foot in the arena of garage-oriented guitar rock. In 2016, he throws his biggest curveball yet with Century Plaza, an entirely synth-based album that he composed on an iPad. Ironically, his transformation from switchblade guitar slinger to Alan Vega-esque electro-clasher isn't quite as dramatic as you'd think. There were even small hints of this direction in some of the metallic punk of 2014's Dudesblood. He opens with a creepy, synthetic reworking of his 2003 track, "Walk Among the Cobras," which fares pretty well in its new suit. Paying homage to what seems to be the album's most obvious influence, he offers a cover of Suicide's "Wipeout Beat" and follows it with a nice bit of synth-punk called "Black Party," which has echoes of Devo in its bright clamor. Sonically, Century Plaza is quite thin and brittle with fewer places to hide than in his scuffed-up, guitar-based music. Aside from messing with his own formula, it's not necessarily the most groundbreaking or well-written LP Sartain has made and, taken as a whole, it feels more like an experiment than a major step forward. [Century Plaza was also released on LP.] ~ Timothy Monger

Product Details

Release Date:	04/01/2016
Label:	One Little Indian
UPC:	5016958996895

Tracks

1. Walk Among the Cobras
2. Cabrini Green
3. Wipeout Beat
4. Black Party
5. Sinking in the Shallow End
6. First Bloods
7. Do You Hear My Voice
8. Feigning Ignorance

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Dan Sartain   Primary Artist
Alan Vega   Primary Artist
Brad Davis   Primary Artist

Technical Credits

Nick Elam   Design,Photography
Dan Sartain   Composer,Engineer
Brad Davis   Composer,Engineer
Alan Vega   Composer
Sarah Orr   Design,Photography