$8.00
The name Mike "Rep" Hummel means many things to different people. Many equate Rep with 70's "Proto-Punk", 80's"D.I.Y." or a pioneering founder of 90's "Lo-Fi" (Rep prefers the term "Mega-Fi" himself). Along with his bands Mike Rep & The Quotas & the seminal (Ohio) True Believers, he was also a a cohort in the 90's Columbus "supergroup" Ego Summit among a plethera of other Ohio band involvements. Also known for recording and/or mixing ("Lovingly Fucking With") such bands of note as Guided By Voices, Times New Viking, Jim Shepard, The Gibson Brothers, Strapping Fields Hands, Mount Carmel and dozens of others, mostly in their formative garage/basement incarnations. "I prefer deflowering to retooling. Both present worthwhile challenges but working with virgin talent won't get you an STD" he once infamously said. Still others remember him for his groundbreaking Columbus Ohio homegrown label "New Age Records" (named before there was such a thing as New Age music) which evolved into the 80's/90's cassette pioneering signpost to new space "OldAge/NO Age" label through the 90's. And so the name Mike Rep Hummel has a polarizing effect on many who either admire or deride his body of work. Hummel's new record "Darby Creek Drifter" is one that is sure to draw the line even deeper into the sand. Rep sez; "As my pal Bob Pollard" once quipped, "this does not rock". But it rolls baby, it rolls.
"Brand new LP from legendary Midwest underground hero Mike Rep: Rep, alongside buddies like Jim Shepard, Tommy Jay, Ron House, Don Howland and Nudge Squidfish, pretty much invented American basement rock/roll DIY via his work with The Quotas and True Believers and his New Age and Old Age/No Age imprints and he was one of the first to fully take rock/roll at its word, coming out of fandom to release some of the most purely focussed avant garage of any age. Darby Creek Drifter presents a series of beautiful new recordings from Rep that range across Velvet Underground covers (a tear-choking version of “Pale Blue Eyes”) through the kinda blasted folk/country of Tommy Jay’s classic Tall Tales Of Trauma. With a cast of many, many friends Rep transmutes Lou Reed-style drug ballads, stoned Michael Hurley-esque slow-mo folk, beautiful paeans to last stands before oblivion and the kinda intuitive grasp of rock/roll form that could easily be a Peter Laughner or Perrett. Another great one from Rep and a necessary addition to the Columbus, Ohio shelf. Very highly recommended." - VOLCANIC TONGUE
https://soundcloud.com/540records to hear a few songs!