Anodyne - Berkowitz

Anodyne
Berkowitz
Alone Records

Nothing against ANODYNE but its music bums me out at times. Mike Hill, a guitarist who previously did engineer/producer work for MADBALL, formed Anodyne in Boston in 1997. Berkowitz is filled with Anodyne's trademark angular noise-rock birthed from the hardcore scene prone to fits of balstbeats and deafening feedback. After the band's 2005 break-up, its members went on to form TOMBS, DEFEATIST, and VERMOSA.

This particular 7" record evokes memories from several different periods of my life. I remember originally buying the 7" at Waterloo Records in Austin in the summer of 2003. I remember, while living in Upstate New York, being bored one weekend and driving through Oswego. I remember remembering that Alone Records was based in Oswego.

I stopped at a gas station on the I-81 feeder road and looked in the phone book (remember those?) if there was anything for Alone Records. Keep in mind, I was desperately bored at the time. Anyway, there was an address for Alone Records near the SUNY-Oswego campus and, bonus points for me, it was near the record store that drew me down to Oswego in the first place.

Quick aside: Did you know that Jerry Seinfeld and Al Roker have been friends since they were both students at SUNY-Oswego? Yep, they lived on the same floor of the same dormitory during the late 1970s.

So, I drove around the SUNY-Oswego campus and was mildly horrified at what I saw. Not only were the record store and Alone Records out of business, the entire "campus drag" area was in sad shape. Gone were the typical college neighborhood stores like the head shop and the vintage clothing boutique. It was the first taste I got of the economic woes to come, and this was in 2004. On the way home, I stopped by FYE and bought a used EARTH CRISIS CD. By the time I moved back to Texas in 2005, that FYE was out of business.

Bonus Fun Fact: After all the different shades of nonsense on the website over the years, this Anodyne review is article #400 in the history of No Funeral. Here's to 400 more.







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