Tracklist

A1	Sick
A2	Stable
A3	Waste Of Skin
A4	Spiral Steps
A5	Full House, Empty Head
A6	Shotgun
A7	Starling
B1	Sick
B2	Stable
B3	Waste Of Skin
B4	Spiral Steps
B5	Full House, Empty Head
B6	Shotgun
B7	Starling

Credits

• Bass Guitar – Mike Barrett*
• Drums – Brad Searles
• Guitar – Jedd Kettler
• Vocals – Brad Searles, Jedd Kettler, Mike Barrett*

Notes

Cassette only release by Burlington, VT Eef.

Good Citizen
EEF - Three Minute Kings
The bands Hover, Snowplow and Eef have very little in common save the drumming of Burlington music scenester Brad Searles: while Hover was ethereal, dreamy, modern pop, and Snowplow was angst-ridden rock with a healthy layer of guitar noise, his latest project Eef comines elements of both and ends up sounding like neither. Featuring former members of Guppyboy, Mike Barrett and Zachary Ward sharing vocal duties with Burlington photographer/musician Jedd Kettler. Eef owes more to modern low-fi indie rockers like Pavement and Sebadoh than to any of Searles' previous projects. And where the charm of Guppyboy was often a collection of random noises that probably weren't as random as we think. Eef tends to offer more structure in their songs and thus creates a logical evolution. As much as they sometimes remind me of Guppyboy, they're definitely not Guppyboy.

The tape starts out with a Zach Ward song called "Panic Attack." Ward often brought a weird sort of atonal dissonance to Guppyboy songs: not necessarily off-key, but certainly alternative (check out the Eef song on Good Citizen Volume One,) his vocals sometimes strained and yelped like he was on the end of a leash. As he eases his way into "Panic Attack," Ward sounds like Hank Williams Sr. ona major bender, out of control and barely standing.

Mike Barrett was the drummer in Guppyboy, and he's switched to bass guitar for this project. "Maleman" showed up on Sounds Around Burlington as the first Eef song to hit the unsuspecting public and it's here in a higher-than-before-fi version. Barrett added alot of the twist to the Guppyboy legend and while Eef hasn't yet allowed for the incredible volume of his previous work, some of the edge shows through. And as Barrett has recently released his first solo recording "Brooklyn," one would suspect the more eccentric stuff will appear under monikers other than Eef.

Jedd Kettler's original compositions (Club Fub released his cassette of blues standards a few years back and he appears on the Guppyboy tribute tape Guppylove) tend to deal with topical subjects: on Sounds Around Burlington he sings a song called "Full House, Empty Head" and on this recording he contributes "Classified Section" and "Big Party." The crowd noise on the latter song sounds more like drunk painters night at the OP than a festive celebration, and Kettler doesn't allow you the fantasy that he's impressed with the big party in question for one second. He sounds pretty bitter about something.

The second side of the tape is a live recording from an April gig at Last Elm Cafe when the whole world was warm and fuzzy for a few brief moments and Eef stripped down to essentials for an acoustic based set. Two of the acoustic songs are covers: by Palace Brothers and Silver Jews, and a third is a Jedd Kettler song called "Greasy" that originally appeared on Sounds Around Burlington as recorded by Hover. If you were there, it was a great night and you'll want this tape for these songs alone. Buy this tape. And while you're at it, look for their first release, Three Minute Kings. It rocks, too.