Trailer Camp

Hope You Didn't Sleep on the Violator

BY Eric HillPublished Dec 1, 2005

In the post-Nirvana deluge of major labels signing grunge imitators a parallel door opened for other edgy, off-kilter acts. Scenes surrounding labels like SST and Dischord were plumbed and plucked, while other bands arrived seemingly from nowhere with names like Latimer and Hardvark. They put out quirky albums that failed to find a audience and thus were banished to the realm of future "musicus obscuricus.” Trailer Camp have a similar out of time and place sound which makes them pleasantly hard to pinpoint. Trashy but tight, with a passion for singing through tiny megaphones and a talent for imagining Yes-style progressive rock as though it developed as mid-’80s garage post-punk. The songs have elliptical lyrics with multi-interpretative meanings, not unlike Pavement, with more of an attraction to girls than crossword puzzles. Musically they lean towards the complex end of the spectrum, though not in the cramming as many chords/time changes in three and a half minutes kind of way. The songs are songs, not hangers for riffs. Lets hope the noughties are kinder to these kinds of misfits than the ’90s were.
(Negative Progression)

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